Lemmings vs The Hellmouth
by steamfan
Summary: The Winchesters and the Scoobies get to know each other while defending the hellmouth from demonic lemmings
1. Chapter 1

Lemming vs. The Hellmouth

Summary: Here is the Winchester/Scooby interaction story everyone has been asking me for

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Supernatural or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If you recognize it, it ain't mine

Warnings: Mangled timelines, mention of same sex couples and situations (no smut ever I promise), possible May/December type romance, swearing and some violence

John peered down the dark street at the houses lining it. Dawn was asleep next to him and would not be able to tell him which house was hers. It was about 4 am in the morning on the same night Glory had died. If Dawn was correct, Buffy should be getting home soon. Either the Scoobies (and who came up with that name anyway?) were still out partying, or Buffy would be making 1 last sweep of the town's graveyards before catching a few hours of sleep. John intended to meet her at her house before having to deal with anyone else. He really didn't know what he was going to say to her. What did you say to the mother of your child when the 2 of you had never met before? Add to that Dawn's and everyone else's faked memories where Dawn was Buffy's SISTER, not her daughter and the entire situation got more and more complicated. Every time John thought about it, he got more and more nervous. He really had to deal with this before he saw the boys. Sam in particular was going to tease him unmercifully about finding himself stuck in this situation, and if things were really bad, he had talked Dean into helping him. Sam could talk Dean into anything.

There was the Impala. It was parked in front of a simple 2 story house with a tree in the yard and a swing on the porch. This must be the place. John parked and shook Dawn awake. It wasn't that difficult, Dawn had trouble sleeping in the truck. She stretched and got out. John followed and walked around the truck to her side. Dawn smiled, put her finger to her lips and pulled John around the house to the kitchen door. Slipping inside Dawn turned on the light over the sink and pushed John onto a stool at the breakfast bar. Still trying to be quiet, Dawn started making a large breakfast to John's surprise. Within 5 minutes an older woman was hurrying into the kitchen. "Buffy, honey?" she whispered as she entered. "Dawn!" Quickly grabbing and hugging Dawn as hard as she could, it took a few minutes for her to see John was there. "Who?"

"I'm John Winchester, Dean and Sam's father. Dawn's too. You must be Joyce." John held out his hand and wondered how Joyce was going to react to him. He'd already had 1 man gapping at him like an idiot, and 1 vampire wanting to rip him to pieces. He hoped this would go better.

Joyce took his hand and simply said, "Thank you for everything." Dawn was smiling as she ushered Joyce onto another bar stool and continued cooking breakfast. "Dawn you do know that if you don't let me take over, you'll be roped into making breakfast for 8, right? And Buffy's been out slaying for hours. You know how she eats after an all night patrol and a big fight." She was shaking her head and smiling. Dawn was home, safe and sound. Nothing else really mattered at this point.

"Yeah, I know Mom, I mean Grandma. A locust in a wheat field is a good description. But how else am I going to thank everybody? And why 8 though? Shouldn't there be more if everyone is coming over?" Dawn put a cup of coffee in front of John and a cup of tea in front of Joyce.

"Sam, Dean, Tara and Willow have been staying here for the past 2 weeks. The minute they smell food, they'll be storming the kitchen." Joyce drank her tea. Dawn had made it just the way she liked it. And if Dawn was going to cook for Buffy, she was headed back to bed. Last night had been an eye opener (she hadn't ever really seen anything like it) and nightmare inducing. But it had been worth it! Buffy was alive. Dawn was alive. All was right with her world. Getting up, she told Dawn she was going back to bed and to wake her if she needed anything. Another hug to reassure herself that Dawn was really home, and off she went, waving to John as she did so.

At sunrise, Buffy walked in the kitchen door. She was dressed in black sweats, but John couldn't tell due to the extreme amount of blue and green and purple fluids covering her from head to toe. She looked exhausted. Dawn, about to hand her a cup of orange juice froze. "Buffy, I love you. You're my mom and all, but if you hug me before you've had a shower I'm telling Dad everything you wrote in your diary about Angel." Buffy just stared. Dawn was here.

John, who was about to take a drink from his cup of coffee when he heard Dawn's pronouncement, turned to Buffy and said, "Please do as she says. She will carry out her threat and I really don't want to hear it. Angel is a good man, but I don't want to know about his personal life."

"You know Angel?" Buffy asked, quickly cataloging the man seated at the breakfast bar. Human, large, in shape for his age, good looking, and a fighter.

John nodded. "We've spent the last few days in LA with him. I'm John Winchester. Can I ask what you were hunting?"

"Oh, I found a few of Glory's left over minions, and a couple of very big, very ugly demons who exploded when I staked them. They were fighting over a basket of kittens and while I would have let them go over just that, they had overturned a police car and come close to killing the cop inside." Distracted by his question, Buffy missed his name.

"Kittens?" John looked confused. Why were demons fighting each other over kittens?

"Kitten poker is big among the demons around here. From what I could tell they were arguing over a gambling debt. I told their friends where the 2 bozos had crossed the line and that I was taking the kittens as payment for my ruined clothes. No body protested." she smirked. The demons had fallen all over themselves to agree with her that their friends had brought their deaths upon themselves. After all it was well known all over town that Buffy was more than willing to live and let live up to a point. After that she would tear you to pieces. The smart demons went out of their way not to piss her off. "I'll hug you after I get cleaned up, Dawn. I don't want to ruin your clothes either. The kittens are on the porch. I'm sure Spike or Clem will want them." Buffy took the glass of orange juice carefully. "You will be telling me everything. Nothing left out. At all. I've been up for the last 48 hours and I've barely had catnaps since Willow sent you to him." she pointed at John. "I'm exhausted. It was a good thing I didn't have to go hand to hand with Glory. I'll have lost before I threw the first punch." Buffy yawned. "Don't think I'm not excited to see you Dawn. I just don't have the energy to do anything more than stand under the shower right now."

Dawn grinned. Buffy in this state of exhaustion was often fun. She'd agree to anything that allowed her to sleep. However, John clearing his throat reminded her that if she said what she wanted to say, he'd be the one handing out the punishments, not Buffy. And they had just saved her life. "Go shower, Mom. I'll be up to tuck you in later."

Buffy turned to John and said, "I don't know what you did, but thank you. Last month she would have had me promising the moon just so I could go to bed." With that, she turned and headed for the shower in the basement. If she didn't get these clothes to soaking, they'd never recover.

John turned a stern gaze on Dawn. "Hey! I was supposed to be her pesky little sister, remember?"

He sighed. "Don't do it anymore. This job is hard enough without family making it worse." Dawn nodded, remembering Buffy's almost 5 months absence after her mom had found out about the slaying. She served up the food she had fixed and went out onto the porch to retrieve the kittens.

As she knelt down to put the basket down in a corner of the kitchen, Dean stumbled in, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. John got up and shoved a cup of coffee into his hands. The only thing that could wake Dean up all at once was danger. The rest of the time he needed coffee. Sitting down at the breakfast bar Dean swallowed half the coffee at once. John just leaned next to him patiently waiting. "Dad?" Dean asked after a minute.

John chuckled. Mary had said that a sleepy Dean was the sweetest thing she'd ever seen. In John's silent opinion, he had never grown out of it. "Hey, Deano." A moment later his eldest son was in his arms, and he simply held him for the longest time. A quick check showed him that Dean had no serious injuries. Dean stood still for the inspection, a habit trained into him for all of his 27 years, not just the 22 and change that their family had been hunting. Dawn leaned on the counter and watched with interest. Dad had done this with her after the hellhounds, even though she had protested she was fine. If he did this with Sam too, maybe she should ease up on him for it. Dawn was still debating this when Dean turned around and lifting his coffee cup, spotted her for the first time.

Dean was barely awake when he saw the girl. He had seen her before. He racked his brain. Oh yeah. She was the kid no one would talk about. He'd seen her pictures around the house, and the looks on Joyce's and the others faces when they'd looked at them had convinced him that the girl was recently dead. He mentally shrugged and did something that was normally very stupid. He went over and poked her in the shoulder. If Dawn had been a vengeful spirit, she would have done a lot more damage. As it was she'd shoved him on his butt. That woke him up. She was standing over him, hands on her hips, and he could hear his dad laughing behind him. He looked over his shoulder and saw that John had his hand over his eyes and was shaking his head. Ok, he'd missed something. "Uh, hi?"

"Was there some reason you decided to poke me? Or are you just one of those jerks that has to do everything they can to annoy other people? That was not cool or the reception I was expecting!" Dawn huffed and crossed her arms. "Really!"

Dean just shrugged. "I wanted to see if you were corporeal. Most non vengeful type spirits don't know that they're dead, so it doesn't work to ask." He got up as Dawn stared at him. "No body around here talks about you. When they look at your pictures, I got the feeling that something bad had happened to you."

"I was sent to stay with Dad. The only bad thing would have been if Glory hadn't been taken care of. Wait a minute. If no one talked about me, you don't know who I am do you?" Dean just shook his head. Dawn grinned. This was going to be sooo good. "I'm Dawn." The shocked look that covered Dean's face as he made the connections was worth the aggravation he had caused.

"YOUR DAWN! But, Dad said you were 6 months old!" Dean shouted at the top of his lungs.

"I am." Dawn said simply as Sam, Tara and Willow charged into the kitchen wielding a variety of weapons.

"Dawn!" Tara and Willow cried and mobbed her, forgetting to put down their weapons. John snagged them as the girls ran past him. Willow was babbling at top speed and Tara had simply wrapped herself around Dawn. Sam sat down next to his dad and simply looked at him. He wasn't sure it was even worth the trouble of asking.

John put the crossbow and the stake down on the counter and went over to hug Sam. He caught Sam's look and after giving him the hug, tugged Dean over to sit beside his brother. It seemed he'd have to face the boys before he and Buffy had settled anything. "Dawn's what she calls a magical test tube kid. That Key that Glory was looking for?" they nodded, both in states of shock. "Some monks had it. They took some blood from me and some from Buffy and used the blood to create Dawn. Then they put the Key in her. They created a fake past for her and aged her up to 14." John nodded over to the girls. "She has 14 years of faked memories telling her she's Joyce's daughter and Buffy's sister. They only found out differently about 2 weeks ago and most of that time has been spent with me. Go easy on her boys. She is your sister and none of this has been easy on her.

"Yes sir." Dean and Sam said quietly. They just sat there absorbing the different shocks. Dean was glad to know he hadn't misjudged his dad, but was still blown away by the fact that his little sister wasn't as little as he had thought. Sam didn't want to believe that Buffy, a girl younger than he was, was Dawn's mother. A test tube kid made to hide a magical key; ok, that was believable. But Buffy? And his dad had admitted it? Out loud? That was going to take some time to recover from.


	2. Chapter 3

Gourmet Lemmings Gourmet Lemmings

Breakfast was just finishing when Buffy stumbled up from the basement. She was clean at last and had found some clean pajamas and a robe to wear. As soon as she held Dawn and made certain she was all right she was going to crash. Why had those demons exploded? It was so hard to get demon ick out of her hair! Vampire dust was bad enough but at least she had found a good shampoo for that. Demon ick just seemed to cling no matter what she did. Maybe if she used that Goop stuff Dean had washed his hands with after changing the oil in his car? She saw Dawn passing out waffles in the dining room and grabbed the plate out of her hands. She put the plate down on the table and pulled Dawn into the hug she had waited nearly two weeks to give her.

John was struck all at once by how tiny and delicate Buffy was. Dawn at fourteen was a full two inches taller than she was. He had been distracted earlier by the colorful gore that covered her. That memory reminded him that Buffy was the Slayer. Now he could understand why Dawn had stood up so strongly for her. Few people would take Buffy seriously unless she gave them a painful demonstration. He had no doubt that it had caused her trouble in the past. He hoped his boys hadn't made that mistake. He wouldn't, he promised himself. This was a young woman who could take care of her self.

Dawn groaned when Buffy checked her over, but then everyone else had too. There was nothing wrong with her, but she knew everyone would have to see that for themselves. It had been a long and stressful time for everyone. "Come on, I'll tuck you into bed." she told Buffy when the inspection was over. She could see Buffy was close to just curling up on the floor and sleeping there.

"She's going to be ok?" John asked, watching Buffy and Dawn leave the room together.

Willow nodded and sighed, envious. "It's the slayer stamina. Four hours of solid sleep and she'll be ready to go for another two weeks. It's best that she doesn't of course." she hurriedly assured John, Sam and Dean, who had all turned wide eyes on her. "It's just that when the danger level is really high, the slayer in her goes on high alert. Usually that's only for a few days and it doesn't hurt her any, but now the slayer in her has been going nuts about Dawn being in danger and not being able to kill that danger. I never thought about it before, but I wonder if because slayers are always female they have an overactive maternal instinct to go along with the sex drive..." Willow trailed off when Dean and Sam began to snicker. John just held his head in his hands.

Willow turned to Tara in bewilderment. When she realized that Tara was blushing and glancing at John, she turned bright red herself. "Buffy's got that more under control than other slayers," Willow said quickly. "It means she eats a ton after her patrols because she channels it that way. With her metabolism she eats more than a teenage boy anyway, but Giles just says that it's a good way to fuel her body. If she didn't eat so much she'd be skin and bones. Especially with all of the active slaying she does."

Walking in on Willow's mini lecture, Xander said. "And that is something that you really never want to see. Buffy's so skinny now she looks like a strong wind would knock her over. Any skinnier and she'd be a walking skeleton." He put down a bag he was carrying and asked. "Where is our lovely Buffy anyway? I need to tell her I found one of Sam's lemmings. At least I think it's one. Spike heard it last night and demanded I find it before I went to sleep because the chirping was going to drive him battier than Dru if it didn't stop. The worst part was when the stupid vamp saw it; he grabbed the thing out of my hands and ate it! He went totally nuts! Drained the thing so slowly you'd think it was gourmet chocolate!" He shuddered. Watching Spike feed on a living creature was horrible. He swore he was never complaining about blood in bags or mugs again.

Dawn walked in and answered Xander's question. "I just finished tucking her into bed. You'll have to wait a few hours. And don't show the rest of us until after breakfast."

"Dawn Patrol!" Xander called, and swept her up into a hug. "I'm glad I got to see you, Dawnie." he said as he set her down. "I have to be at work in a little bit and it's going to be an overtime day. With luck, Spike and I will be able to move out of the basement of doom and into a real apartment soon." A quick glance showed him she had no injuries, and her rolled eyes told him she had noticed him checking for them. "Ok, it's in the bag. Show it to Giles, will you?' He waved at everyone and quickly headed off to work.

"Bye! Sure! Have a good day at work!" followed him out the door.

"Sam's lemmings?" John asked, looking at Dean.

"He's been getting these nightmares. Sometimes they come true. He can tell the difference now. He, ah, also gets visions sometimes." Dean knew that this was something no one could have predicted, but he didn't know how his father would take learning that his youngest, no not his youngest anymore, he thought looking at Dawn. But learning that Sammy had prophetic nightmares and visions wouldn't be easy that's for sure. To his shock, John just merely nodded his head.

"I had hoped that you wouldn't get the visions Sam."

"Wait, you knew about this?" they both burst out.

"I knew that there was a possibility. The guys in my unit learned to listen when I had a bad feeling about a situation, but that was the most I ever got before your mother died. After, well, I started getting both nightmares and visions as well. As for why I didn't tell you, the family tradition is for the child to find out what their gift is for themselves, because it is very subjective most of the time. You can't give a child a preconceived notion when the only thing that might really be there is a feeling for whether or not someone is a good person. And that is if the child had a gift at all." John shrugged.

Sam nodded. "If you told the child to expect something, they'll see it if it's there or not."

John nodded. "Exactly."

"Well, Dean's got something. I haven't been able to pinpoint it yet though." Dean reached over and smacked his brother on the head.

"Dean can tell me later, Sam. If he's not comfortable with it yet, I can wait until he is." John said nodding at Dean. "Why don't we get the table cleared so we can take a look at this thing. From the size of it, it might be one of the groundhog things I've been dreaming about."

Dean and Sam quickly cleared the table as Willow and Tara went for the dissection tools and the books that had the different 'lemming' pictures. Dawn got the vinyl table cloth they used to protect the table from the really gross stuff that occasionally had to be done there. She spread it over the table and made sure it was fastened down tight. John had the bag and carefully tipped the body out onto the table. It was the same creature that both John and Sam had been dreaming about. Three feet long from the tip of its nose to its stubby tail, it was a dull brown color. The six stubby legs ended in small paws with short wide claws. The eyes and ears were almost nonexistent.

"Tunnelers," John pronounced. "They must get almost all of their information from their sense of smell." He pointed at the huge nose compared to the eyes and ears. "Those claws are made for digging." Spike's feeding attack had left the body in almost perfect shape. It was almost eighteen inches across, although John speculated that this one was either on the lean side or Spike's feeding had caused the body some loss of body mass, as the skin was very loose.

"Wes was right." Dawn stated. "It's a Hectalik. According to this they are normally gourmet food animals for most demons." She checked the picture again. "It's skinny because it's a nursing female, see?" She passed the book around and the others nodded. Willow looked up from where she was cutting the Hectalik up.

"Do you think Clem would like the body? Or do you think they need to be live? Or?" Dean and Dawn quickly covered Willow's mouth. John glared at Dean. That was NOT the way he had raised his son to treat women! Dean gulped.

Tara was the one who came to his rescue. "Its ok." she said gently, tugging on John's shirt. "Sometimes it's the only way to get her to stop."

Everyone nodded, even Willow. She gently removed the hands from her mouth. "Sometimes I just can't stop and it turns into a terrible babble, Mr. Winchester. I get all rambly and the whole point gets lost. Which was of course maybe we can get some help from some of the local demons. If they like to eat these that is."

Tara nodded. "We'll have to talk to Clem. He's always got his ears tuned to the non violent demon community."

"And we can pay him with the kittens Buffy got for having to ruin her sweats last night." Dawn said satisfied. She was always happy to be able to pay Clem for his help. She then told those who hadn't been there about Buffy's encounter with the gambling debt demons and the cop she had rescued.


	3. Chapter 2

Gourmet Lemmings Conversations between mom and dad

After Buffy had woken up and gotten dressed, she checked the bedroom next to hers. She hadn't dreamed it. Dawn was home, safe and sound. She crept silently into the room and kissed Dawn on the head lightly. Once again she repeated the vow she had made to herself; whatever Dawn needed, she would get. She smiled and left the room as silently as she had entered it.

Next she checked on her mother. She hadn't seen her mom and wanted to make sure that it was because of Joyce still being tired from the chemo treatments, not something worse. But Joyce was in her shower, not throwing up or unconscious or anything that resembled bad. Buffy knew that Joyce would be going to the gallery next, so making her a breakfast or at least a snack was next on the agenda.

Tea, toast and maybe some scrambled eggs, she thought as she walked down the stairs. She knew she couldn't cook very well, but that she could make and was on the diet sheet the doctor had given Joyce. She went to go into the kitchen and noticed someone was on Sam's sleeping bag in the living room. It was the man she had barely noticed when she got in this morning, Dawn's father. Now that was one situation she had no idea how to handle. She looked him over and decided that her impression from this morning was correct. He was a large, fit, and handsome man. Too bad that all that meant he was trouble. The only man who had come close to that description who hadn't been trouble in her life was Giles. And the only reason he fit the handsome category was because her mom thought he was.

"Are you through looking me over?" John asked without opening his eyes.

"Actually I was wondering if you knew what a stevedore was. Every one else refuses to tell me, although my mom no longer blushes if I ask. I'm about to make her something to eat. Do you want something?" she offered. It was best not to let him get too good a look at serious Buffy yet, she thought. She couldn't remember what he had thought about her appearance this morning, but she definitely hadn't been at her best. It was better to keep him off balance for a while. "She called Giles that once, and it's bugged me off and on ever since."

"He's your Watcher, right?" John followed Buffy into the kitchen and wondered at her bright and perky attitude. The tired warrior from last night had completely disappeared. Right now she might as well have been one of those ditzes that Dean usually picked up in bars.

Crap, she thought. Being ditzy and telling him the truth was going to be hard. "Yes, although it's not official because the council fired him. But then I fired them when they refused to tell me what the antidote was to a poison Angel was dying from. It has all worked out. We do our thing and they can't order Giles to do stupid stuff anymore." she said thinking of the Cruciamentum, and hoping John would buy what she was selling.

"She was saying he has a lot of stamina. Not surprising when you think about it. After all, as your Watcher he has to keep up with you. That would carry over into other parts of his life." John wondered how she would take his answer. Would she let him see the warrior he knew was there? Or would she continue to act like a Hollywood blond?

"That's good." Buffy said, and then snickered. "No wonder they were both blushing!" she said without thinking, falling out of her not quite dumb blond role. "She was talking about the time with the cop car!" Buffy didn't bother to look up from the eggs she was cooking and just waved her hand at John. "Don't ask; it involves cursed band candy, a former friend of Giles, the sacrifice of babies, and the former mayor who when he turned himself into a snake demon we blew up, along with the high school." She looked over at him as she brought the eggs over to the counter. "I guess dumb Buffy isn't going to work, huh?" John shook his head. "Well, it probably would have if you hadn't seen me come in this morning. I'm really rather good at it when I need to be.

"Well, good for Giles. They'll be good for each other." Take charge Buffy was back and she let him see that. "They've finally moved beyond the embarrassment stage. Giles has been so helpful and supportive while she's been sick. Chemo really sucks. He just tells her it isn't nearly as bad as field work. Or sucking up to the council to get me what I need. She may actually believe him now after Glory." Buffy looked at John. "Did our little pain in the neck tell you about Glory?"

"If you mean Dawn, yes she did. Why do you call her a pain in the neck?" John reminded himself that the transition from big sister to mom was as rough on Buffy as it was on Dawn.

"Because she enjoys being one," Buffy said simply. "And I said 'our' because she's my daughter too." Buffy paused. "I'm sorry to tell you this, but I was so tired this morning I didn't get your name. I know you told me, but it just went in one ear and out the other. My brain really doesn't function when I'm that tired."

"John Winchester." he smirked.

"Dean and Sam's dad?" she asked. He nodded. "Oh god!" Buffy buried her face in her hands. She had flirted with Dean! Dawn's half brother! Thank God it hadn't ever been serious for either of them. In one of the quick mood changes that were typical of her, she looked up at John and grinned. "Well I guess Dean can keep Mr. Gordo then!"

John laughed. "Sam sent me a picture." He pulled out his phone and showed Buffy. "What was he upset about anyway?"

Joyce walked in then and Buffy handed her the small plate she had made up. "Remember what the doctor told you." she ordered her mom. "Even if you can't keep much down, you should eat small meals. I'll be bringing you some soup for lunch. You can tell me then what your hungry for and I'll go get it." she kissed her cheek.

Joyce nodded. "I'll follow orders if you do too. Rupert wants to see you at the Magic Box. And if you haven't eaten, young lady we're going to have a talk later. I don't want you to lose anymore weight than you already have this past week. Dawn is home, she's safe, and you are going to put those five pounds back on!" Joyce waved her fork at Buffy. "Now!" She pointed at the stove. "March!"

Grinning, Buffy mock saluted, and marched over to fix herself some food. It was good to see her mother so cheerful. What wasn't good was seeing her mother not finish the small plate that she had fixed. Buffy shrugged to herself as she saw her mom out the door, every little bit helped. Chemo really sucked.

"Oh, Dean." she said to John as she went back to the breakfast bar and her breakfast. "Well, he has some kind of magical or psychic ability coming on line. He's sensitive to object's auras at least. He picked up this bowl over at the Magic Box, and he freaked. Tara and Willow checked it out. It turned out that a long time ago some crazy old warlock had cursed a demon into the shape of the bowl. Dean picked up on the fact that it was alive somehow. Tara had already said that Dean could pick up on things auras and I had Mr. Gordo in my pocket, so I gave him to Dean. I'm glad Sam got a picture, that look was priceless. The best part of course was that he calmed down almost instantly. Or rather that he forgot about freaking out over the bowl. He was much more upset about being handed a stuffed pig."

John smiled at Buffy's smirk over the incident and watched as she put away a breakfast that was twice the size either of his boys had needed while they were going through their growth spurts. He remembered what Willow and Xander had told him that morning about her eating habits. It seemed that she was either trying to shock him with how much she ate, or she was trying to get away without eating enough. He'd have to ask her Watcher later. He didn't want her to get sick just because he made her uncomfortable with her eating habits. Slayers needed fuel. It was as simple as that as far as he was concerned.


	4. Chapter 4

Sam and Dean sat at the research table at the Magic Shop looking at several of Giles'

books. Dean was taking no chances after the bowl incident and was turning pages with a

pencil. This sucked. He needed to do something. "Sam, we got to do something about

Dad."

Sam didn't look up from his tome. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, come on Sammy! Are you telling me you don't want to razz Dad about getting

hooked up with a little tiny sexed up slayer? Who could break him in half without even

breaking a sweat?"

"She could break him in half without mussing her hair, and no I don't."

"May I ask what you two are talking about?" Giles asked from across the room.

"Our Dad's going to pop the question to your slayer." Dean was grinning.

"Why?" Giles demanded with a glare.

"Because Dawn is our half-sister." Sam answered with an exasperated sigh.

"Oh." Sam's answer stopped Giles for a moment. "Well, I suppose that makes sense. I

had thought that Glory might be the demon your family had been tracking for so long."

"Nope, Dad had a line on the ceiling demon, but the situation with Dawn came up and he

couldn't follow up on it." Dean told Giles with a grimace. He had no question that his

dad had done the right thing, but losing that lead frustrated him.

"Ceiling Demon?" Giles questioned.

"You tell him." Sam said shortly, and got up and left the Magic Box.

Dean looked after his little brother and sighed. "22, almost 23 years ago, a demon

declared war on our family. I was four and Sam was six months. The way Dad tells it, he

had fallen asleep in front of the TV one night and something woke him up. He got up and

went to check on Sam. Mom was on the ceiling, bleeding from a gash in her belly. Then

she caught on fire. Dad grabbed Sam, gave him to me and told me to get him out of the

house and to not look back. He tried to go back to get mom, but it was to late. Dad

declared war right back when he found out that something supernatural had killed mom.

There have been several times that the demon has had traps set for Dad, but although he's

survived them, we've never gotten really close to the demon itself. Sam's girlfriend was

killed the same way as Mom less than a year ago.

"You know that maybe part of what's bugging him now. He usually is more willing to

talk to professionals about what killed Jess. She was a little bit like Buffy, physically.

Nothing else, but she was small and blond and smart too. Hell, it's got to be that. He

can't have a problem with Dad proposing to Buffy, he never knew Mom and he was

raised the same way I was. If anyone should have a problem with that it's me."

"Do you have a problem with it?" Giles asked, pondering the kill style of the demon in

question.

"Nope. Dad raised us right where women are concerned. You never walk out on being a

dad or the mother of your kid. End of question, discussion, just end." Dean made a 'that's

that' motion with his hands. "No way in the world Dad wouldn't ask her. Even if she

doesn't say yes, he won't leave her or Dawn. Where ever they are is home base from now

until Buffy dies. Then we'll take Dawn with us, maybe. Maybe not, it just depends on

how things go and how long Buffy lives. After all, Dawn may not want to be part of the

family business, Sam didn't." he shrugged. He had come to terms with Sam's leaving for

college, although he still wasn't too happy at the thought of his brother leaving again.

Giles nodded and rather distractedly went over to his bookshelves and took down one of

the books he rarely used. He thought he had read it in here. Lost in the world of demonic

research, he didn't notice Anya walk in. She of course, went directly to the till and began

to play with the money. She called it keeping current, but Dean knew she just liked

playing with it. He shrugged, as long as she wasn't bothering him or his, she could do

what she liked. He didn't have a problem with her former life, mostly because he thought

anyone who cheated on a girl, made her promises and then didn't at least try to follow

through, deserved what he got. Which was why he never made any promises. The

women he dated knew he wasn't going to stay. He made that clear up front. He wasn't

looking to settle down, look at what had happened the last time he had made that mistake.

If he ever found a girl, she was going to know about the job before he started making

plans. He went back to turning pages with his pencil.

Sam walked back into the shop fifteen minutes later. He dropped a small package in

front of Dean. "Here. Got you something." He then grabbed a book off the pile in front

of him and buried himself in it. Dean just looked at the package. What could Sammy be

up to now? He opened the box with trepidation. With Sam in a mood, he didn't know

what to expect. Inside was a pair of very thin, very strong and very supple leather gloves.

The kind you could do delicate work like by passing an alarm system wearing. He should

have known. Sam wasn't stupid. If anyone would figure out that he was getting hit a lot

more often than he let on, it was Sammy. He smirked and put the gloves on. Now he

could get down to work.

"Did the attack look something like this?" Giles asked an hour later, showing Dean and

Sam a picture of a man with a cut running from his chest to his groin.

"Nope," Dean answered. "The cut was from side to side, and low on the belly." He

gestured across his own abdomen to demonstrate. Giles hmmed and nodded, putting one

book back and getting down another. The hours passed as Giles asked question after

question about the minute details of the attacks and the traps set by the demon for their

father. Both of them answered as best as they could knowing that Giles, like them had

been trained from childhood to do this very thing. They also knew that as a former

Watcher he had access to resources their family would never have.

Willow came in after her morning classes to see cheerful looks on all three faces of the

men at the research table. "I see something is going right today." Willow chirped. She

put her stuff down and dropped into a chair next to Dean.

"Giles has narrowed down our ceiling demon to a specific group." Sam said. "Now we

just need to find out which type of demon it is within this group and narrow it down after

that to clan. Once we have the clan, we can get to work."

Dean nodded. "We really need to give that information to Dad. He had to give up a lead

to take care of Dawn, so this should help." He looked at Willow's stricken face. "Don't

you dare feel bad. If Dawn had gotten hurt and we could have prevented it, it would have

killed us. Family comes first. That's why we're in this business. This demon killed our

Mom, Sam's girlfriend, and tried to kill our Dad. There is no way we're going to let it get

away with that. Just like we didn't let Glory get away with trying to hurt Dawn." Dean

waved his finger in Willow's face as he made his little speech. Willow gulped

remembering just how Dean and Sam had gone after Glory. Relentless didn't begin to

describe it. She nodded her head and was relieved when Dean turned back to his book.

"Willow, where is Tara? I thought she was coming with you today?" Giles asked as he

looked up from his book.

"She went to see Clem about talking to us about the Hectalik demons. They should get

here about the same time Buffy does." Willow reassured him.

"Don't forget Dad and Dawn." Sam returned. Dean was right, he decided. They did need

to do something about Dad. Being upset that it was Buffy instead of Joyce was just plain

stupid. He was too old to need a mom, even one as neat as Joyce.


	5. Chapter 5

John, Buffy and Dawn walked into the Magic Box mid argument. "You can't listen to him, Buffy! He's a nut! A full blown health freak! I even checked him for possession, but no luck! It's just him!" Dawn was in a full rant, arms waving, not quite shouting, eyes rolling, feet stomping. John just smiled and shook his head. Even at her worst, she wasn't as bad as Sam had been. Maybe it was the fact that she let go easier. Sam held it in until he blew like a volcano. Dawn was a let's go, in your face, right now type of ranter. He slid past them both and headed for the table where the boys were at.

Buffy was listening, but she really couldn't tell what the problem was. so John hadn't let her have a cookie, big deal. "You sound like he never let you have any sugar ever." she tried to say reasonably.

"He didn't!" Dawn insisted. The hot chocolate and cookies didn't count. Those were for treating her magical transportation shock. "He wouldn't even let me have pancakes because they come with syrup! Buffy, you've got to overrule him! You're my Mom, you can do that! I'm going through sugar withdrawal here!" Dawn turned her best 'Xander puppy eyes' expression on her mom. If that didn't work, she was doomed.

"Ok, I'll talk to him." Buffy answered with a chuckle. It couldn't be as bad as Dawn was saying. Who could live without sugar?

Dawn took her seat at the table, next to Dean. Unseen by most, Dean slipped Dawn something under the table. Even without looking Dawn knew it was some kind of m'n'ms. They were the only thing that came in that kind of package. She did her best not to grin. It wouldn't do to get her big brother in trouble for helping her out now.

Giles motioned to Buffy and began to explain to her about what the others had found out about the Hectalik. When Buffy was sure she had the facts straight, she sat down between John and Dawn. There was nothing more she could do until Clem got there. Sam was briefing his dad on what they had found when Tara walked into the shop from the back room. "Clem's here." the shy witch said.

Buffy thanked her and led everyone into the back room. She didn't think to ask if anyone had told the Winchesters that Clem was a demon. As they walked into the room, all three went on alert, but John waved them back down. He didn't know what kind of demon this was, but it was obvious that it was friendly from the small talk about its mate and offspring. Dean and Sam weren't so sure, but no one else was even the slightest bit uptight, so they relaxed enough to appear to be relaxed.

John leaned against the back wall and watched to see how Buffy handled the situation. He had never met a nonviolent demon, although Dawn had insisted they were out there. It was hell dimention vs the real hell it seemed. 'Other dimention natives' as Dawn had put it differentiate them from 'real' demons, came in all types, ranging from harmless (which he supposed this Clem was) to as dangerous and evil as any 'true' demon from hell. He wondered just how many of the monsters he had killed actually fell under ODN status.

Clem was more than happy to exchange his information for the kittens. He was also more than willing to take the carcass off their hands as well. "Hectalik are good anyway you can get them. Even if a vampire has drained them first. Not only is the flesh and blood great to eat, but the fur is wonderful for nest material. No part is wasted. Heck, they're even good after being frozen. I'd better get home quick and tell my wife that a swarm is coming. I know you'll keep them from opening the hellmouth, so if I can convince her, we'll be able to harvest enough to last a good century at least."

Buffy smiled. She liked Clem. As far as she was concerned his only fault was a love of kitten poker. She refused to wonder what they did with the kittens after the game. "That's great Clem. Tell everyone that the more the locals harvest, the fewer I'll have to deal with at the hellmouth. I want them to come out and harvest as many of these things as possible. Heck, if they really are good frozen, I'll have Spike and Xander fix up the big cold storage warehouse on the west side and have Willow set up a system for demon families to share space in there. Ok?"

Clem grinned back at her, his wrinkles getting wrinkles. "For a slayer you really are all right, Buffy. I know that there are a lot of families who have had a bad year since the Initiative. A lot of good demons were killed leaving behind mates and offspring. A place to store Hectalik will get them back on their feet. I hope there will be enough room."

"We'll make sure there is." Buffy patted Clem on the shoulder. "I'm only sorry we couldn't stop them sooner. I'll have everyone get to work on it right away." she promised.

"Giles," she turned to him only to find him holding out his hand.

"Yes, we can convert the warehouse, no it won't hurt to use magic, yes electricity will be needed, yes I'm sure that Willow can set up a system on that dread machine of hers, yes this will significantly reduce the number of Hectalik that will even get close to the hellmouth, no they cannot swim so they will not be able to go through the Master's old cave, and I'm sure that Anya and Joyce will be good candidates to run the system while the rest of us are doing what we can to stop the swarm. Any other questions?" he smiled at his slayer, glad that they'd had enough years together that he could anticipate most of her questions.

She smiled back. "Only one, Watcher mine. How long do you think it will take before we can start storing the lemmings?"

"If we start now, before midnight at the latest." Giles nodded at Clem who took his cue and hurried off.

"Then we'd best get started." Buffy stated.

Buffy was quickly earning John's respect. Not only had she turned the killing of Glory over to Dean, according to what his son had told him that morning, but practically the entire operation as well. she had only protested a few times, and then only when she knew something Dean hadn't. She had shared her information and stepped back, although not without informing both Sam and Dean that she didn't normally operate that way. Now, she was fully in charge. But she wasn't running roughshod over anyone either. He'd thought that after this morning's story she would have been intimidating this Clem into doing what she wanted. She wasn't. Buffy reminded John of this village matriarch he had met during his time with the marines. She had ruled over her tiny village with a smile and an iron fist. When he had (all unknowing at the time of who she was), rescued her knitting from a dog and returned it, treating it and her with respect; he'd won the cooperation of the entire village. They didn't give a fig for the US Marine Corp., but a man who treated the best leader they'd had in living memory with respect was given it in return. Buffy was treating Clem not only with respect, but as someone she was responsible for. When Clem had mentioned a problem that she could help with, she immediately responded with a promise to marshal her troops right away, and did so. Most people her age would have worried about how to work the good works project into their social schedule. Buffy was someone who worked the other way around. Suddenly offering her a wedding ring didn't feel so much like a betrayal of Mary. Mary would have approved of her.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: This is an angst chapter. Bad things are discussed. Here is the reason Dawn insists

on calling Joyce grandma and Buffy mom.

Sam was the one who got baby-sitting duty. He and Dawn sat at the dining room table

surrounded by books. Dawn's were for her school work (Buffy and John both insisted

that she not skip doing it) and Sam's were all about the demon category that the Ceiling

demon belonged to. Everyone else was out getting the warehouse organized, trying to see

how many hours they could beat the midnight deadline by. "Sam, when is Grandma's

next chemo treatment?" Dawn asked.

"Two days. That's why she's helping with the warehouse tonight. Tomorrow to get ready

for it, then treatment the day after. I've been wondering, why do you do that anyway?"

Sam asked, looking up at his little sister. His little sister. Now that was something he'd

never thought he'd get to say. Being in Dean's shoes was going to be a challenge. "Don't

you have fourteen years of memories of being Joyce's daughter?"

"Yes I do." Dawn said shortly, hoping Sam would drop it. It wasn't a subject she was

comfortable with.

"So, why do you do it?" Sam insisted. Dad was right. There was something wrong here.

He could feel it. Whatever it was, Dawn needed to talk about it. Burying your feelings

was one Winchester trait he really hoped Dawn hadn't inherited. Look where it had

gotten him. Four years of silence between him and his dad because neither could say they

were sorry about the fight. Hell, it had taken Dean's comment on how Dad would check

up on him at school before he had figured out why Dad had been so upset. He hadn't

been stupid while he was away from his family. He watched the papers. He knew

someone was hunting in the area about every two or three months. It had been Dad,

scared that Sam wouldn't or couldn't protect himself. But being a Winchester Dad hadn't

been able to say that, so he had gotten mad. And Sam had gotten mad right back,

although truthfully it hadn't taken much at the time to set him off. He didn't want

anything like that to happen to Dawn.

"You're going to keep pushing aren't you?" Dawn asked exasperated. Sam nodded over

the top of his stack of books. "I have memories, but they didn't happen. And I have to

remember that."

"Why?" Sam asked her again, a cold feeling of dread wrapping around his guts. He really

hoped it wasn't what his dad was worried about.

"Because it never happened, but if I don't remember that Hank Summers is going to be

very badly hurt." Dawn kept her head down, looking at her atlas. One of her school

projects was to figure out the best route from Sunnydale to an imaginary hunt location,

figuring in everything they would need for the hunt, gas, food, etc.

Sam reached over and lifted her chin. "You are a Winchester. You won't hurt him, no

matter what memory the monks gave you. We only kill demons, we don't hunt humans.

And from what I understand that's what you'd have to do to even find the jerk. We can

deal with the memory, Dawn. Just tell me."

Dawn took a deep breath and nodded. "It was just before the divorce. In fact Hank

walked out that night." Dawn took several more deep breaths. This was hands down her

worst memory. She'd take slaying gore over this any day. "I heard them starting to argue.

I knew Buffy was sneaking out and I decided to follow her. She had just been called, but

I didn't know that. All I knew was if she didn't have to listen to them, I wasn't going to

either." she paused, biting her lip. "I was nine, so I'd just found out what sex was. At the

time all I could think was gross, you know?"

"You just keep thinking that." Sam interrupted with a smile.

Dawn giggled and brushed the tears off her face. "I thought I would catch Buffy at it with

her boyfriend. You can imagine how disgusted I was when I saw her meet up with what

looked like this old homeless guy. I was sooo planning to blow the whistle on her when

we got back to the house. I figured there was no way she needed money that bad, right?"

Sam just nodded, his earnest 'we really are who we say we are and can you please help us?' face on. Internally he was already preparing himself for the worst. "So I followed them into this cemetery, and the old guy just sits on a headstone. He waves Buffy off towards on side of the cemetery and pulls out this notebook. He was her first Watcher of course. I know that now. So, I followed Buffy wondering just what was going on. I saw her save two teenagers lives that night. From vampires of course. I was totally in awe. My big sister was the real Clark Kent. Idiot cheerleader by day and superhero by night. We stayed out for a couple of hours. And then I followed her home.

"The whole memory thing is so fake I want to gag." She threw a disgusted look in Sam's

direction. "Like I could really follow a hunting slayer for three hours and not get caught?

Especially Buffy!" She huffed. "Stupid monks. Well I snuck in before she did and was

watching at the top of the stairs when Hank caught her sneaking back in. It was horrible.

Slut and whore were actually the nicest things he called her. He accused Mom,

Grandma," She said forcefully. "Of actually pimping out her own daughter. I sat there

listening to this filth pour out of him and I could see how much he was hurting them. The

same girl who had completely wiped the ground of the cemetery with four vampires, who

had saved two innocent peoples lives, was flinching from every word. It was like

suddenly finding out Superman was real and so was kriptonite. And Hank Summers was

cast in the role of Lex Luthor. Instead of fighting or arguing, Buffy just stood there and

took it. Because she couldn't tell him what she had been doing without putting him and

us in danger." Dawn looked at Sam. "He hurt her so bad, that if I don't keep reminding

myself it didn't happen, I would take this power," She poked herself hard in the chest

referring to the Key. "And I would tear him apart cell by cell, and keep him awake,

aware, and feeling every little bit of it for eternity.

"But it didn't happen. I'm only six months old. I've never seen Hank Summers. And I've

got the best Grandmother, parents and brothers in the world."

Before he even knew he was moving, Sam had Dawn in his arms and was letting her cry

out her distress on his shoulder. He looked up when he shifted to get her into his lap and

saw Buffy and his dad standing in the doorway behind Dawn's chair. His dad had his

hand on Buffy's shoulder, silently urging her to let Sam take care of this. She turned and

left when she saw Sam holding Dawn in his lap. John simply gave Sam a look. It was

one Sam was very familiar with. He'd just never had it directed at him before. It was the

look that said take care of your brother, or in this case sister. Sam held Dawn tighter in

response and John left to follow Buffy.

Walking down the street together, Buffy suddenly told John. "I can tell the difference,

you know? Between the memories the monks gave us and what was real. I did this

meditation spell and that's how I found out about Dawn. The only lasting effect is that I

have both sets of memories." She marched on for another block. "Why did they have to

give her that one? Anything would have been better. I was the one sitting at the top of

the stairs. I was the one watching when Mom slapped his face and threw him out of the

house. Aaaaaaah!" She put her fist through a tree.

John was having trouble controlling his own temper. "Do you want the tactical reason or

would you rather help me track the son of a bitch down that did this to our daughter and

break every bone in his body?" John asked with perfect seriousness. Buffy was right.

There was no reason good enough for the monks to have done this to their little girl.

Buffy laughed hollowly and removed her hand from the tree. "You might as well give me

the tactical reason. The monks are all dead. Glory and her minions killed them all."

"Crap. I wanted a chance at them." John shrugged. There was nothing he could do about

it now. "They wanted to make sure that she never went anywhere with him. He can't

protect her. But that is a sick way to do it. They shaded it in her mind to make the

experience the worst possible."

"The real thing was bad enough. They didn't need to make it any worse." Buffy suddenly

turned around and marched back towards her house. "I forgot my axe." Which was what

they had been stopping at the house for in the first place. John nodded. If he couldn't get

the monks, the local vampires would have to do. On the upside, he could kill the

vampires, he would've had to keep himself from killing the monks.

John stopped at his weapons stash in his truck and took out his vampire hunting

equipment; crossbow, machete, rosary, and holy water. His guns were already loaded

with magnesium rounds and he picked out a few more magazine just in case he ran into

something else. Few things could stand one of those in its gut. He should have Sam look

up Hank Summers. He had noticed that Buffy hadn't denied the names Dawn had

remembered him calling her. There had to be something they could ethically do to the

man. All they had to do was look hard enough, and Sam was best at that. There would

be something in his past. A man who could call his only daughter those kind of names,

with a good chance she could hear him without having the enhanced senses of a slayer,

had to have something they could use in his background. He set his weapons in the

middle of the truck's bench seat and waited behind the wheel for Buffy. She was

climbing down the tree that was outside her window. She was taking no chances that

Dawn would see her until Dawn had a chance to calm down. John nodded, Buffy was a

good mother. It didn't matter if he married her or not. She was a part of his family and

the Winchesters took care of their own. Hank Summers would never know what hit him.


	7. Chapter 7

John parked his truck beside the warehouse that the Scooby Gang was converting. There

was already a line of demons with demon kids waiting in the alley to get into the

warehouse to deposit their Hectalik. "I know I'm probably the last person you want to

talk to about this. But with my brainiac and our brainiac getting together and talking this

to death, Sam's going to need an actual quote if you can give me one. Neither one will

accept because as an answer. Or a 'it wasn't that bad'. They'll want to know exactly how

bad it was."

"Dawn's probably wondering if the monks tamed it down for her." Buffy let out a rush of

air and ran her hand through her hair. "You're right. There is no way Dawn won't obsess

about it until she gets an answer. What Hank actually said, and do remember that he

didn't know I could hear, was "She's turning into a little trouble making tramp and it's all

your fault. You just aren't disciplining her enough. Who knows what those little creeps

she's dating are getting her into." Buffy reached into her pocket and started pulling her

hair into a pony tail. It was definitely time to do some slaying. The way she was feeling

now, beating the crap out of something was the only way to cheer herself up.

John nodded, his own ire at Hank Summers starting to cool. He'd see what Sam turned

up before making his decision though. There was no way Sam wouldn't thoroughly check

the man out, it might turn out he needed a little 'disciplining' after all. He loaded up with

his own weapons and followed Buffy into the warehouse. It was filled top to bottom with

old commercial freezers and little demons running around all over the place. John

assumed they were playing although he had no real idea what they might be doing. He

saw what looked like a blue woman with short spikes growing out of her head trying to

coral about four (or was if five?) youngsters. She reminded him of Doyle, and what he

had glimpsed when the half demon had sneezed. As he recalled, Dawn had said Braken

demons were a pretty harmless bunch, rather like laid back humans. You got your radical

every now and then, but they were more like Doyle than a 'lets kill everything in sight'

type. As Buffy talked to Willow, who was telling her about the setup, John observed that

Clem had been right. Most of these demons were mothers with children, some of them

very small. And they were going to demon killers for help in getting food and nesting

materiel for their young. He shook his head. The more he saw here in Sunnydale, the

more his world tipped on it's axis.

Dean wandered over and stood beside his dad. "This is freaking me out." he said calmly.

"We actually had a fight over some demoness talking too long with Anya and holding up

the line. That's the worst thing to happen so far. I'm surrounded by demons and none of

them are trying to kill me. It's just too freaky Dad."

"When your little sister told me that her mother was the current Vampire Slayer, her best

friend was a Jewish Witch, and her other best friend was a demon magnet, I freaked.

After that she laughed at me and told me that the weird meter in Sunnydale was topped

out. I'm beginning to understand what she was talking about. They need an entirely new

meter to measure the weird in this town."

Dean snorted. His dad hadn't seen anything yet. The demon grocery store was on his top

five list. "Giles has set up patrol routes around Sunnydale. Both of us are going to be

paired off so we won't go hog wild on the demons or let something go that's against the

rules around here. It's our sink or swim test I think. I managed to get you with Buffy for

patrol. The two of you will be covering the west side here. He said that Buffy is going to

want to make sure that we don't have demons picking on other demons over this whole

thing." Dean shook his head, this was really starting to get to him. Stopping demons

from picking on other demons?

"Makes sense." John replied, ignoring the look Dean shot him. "You want all of them

focused on taking out the Hectalik, rather than each other. Think of it as controlling

looters. You don't mind them looting, you just want them to loot what you want them to

rather than fight over the loot amongst themselves. There is going to be plenty of these

things for all of them. And the more they take and bring here, the fewer we have to fight

later." John gave Dean a measuring look.

Dean had seen that look before. It was an 'Are you going to figure this out yet or do I

need to lead you a little further' from his lessons in hunting tactics. Dean nodded to show

that he had understood his father and went back to giving his dad the patrol information.

"I'm teamed up with Xander for the East, Spike is patrolling the North, and Giles is going

to do the South himself. Apparently being Buffy's Watcher carries some clout around

here. Be prepared for a long haul Dad. Giles figures it should take about a week before

the swarm gets close enough to endanger the hellmouth, but there is already a lot of

demons coming in here to set up an account. Hopefully it really will make a difference

later on." Dean smirked and handed John a small package. Then he walked off to join

Xander who was heading out for patrol. Thus getting away from his dad before said

package was opened. Let the teasing commence, he thought.

John looked at the package and sighed. He knew it had started. Neither one of the boys

would be able to resist teasing their old man over his situation. But he knew it was

because they trusted him to do right by both Buffy and Dawn. Well, he was going to do

his best, but it wasn't like he'd ever asked a girl to marry him before, no matter what they

boys thought. Mary had been the one to ask him, he had just been smart enough to say

yes. He took a deep breath and opened the package. Inside was a little note card saying

'after patrol slayer care kit', a fake motel room key, a fake gift certificate for an all you can

eat dinner and a box of condoms. He was going to kill Dean. At least he hadn't given

this to Buffy. He shuddered to think how that would have gone over. He shoved the

thing into his pocket and reminded himself to get rid of the evidence as soon as possible.

Buffy walked up to him and said. "Well, it looks like it's you and me for the west side

patrol. Want to get started?"

"Lead on." John said and waved her ahead of him. On the way out he slipped Dean's

'care kit' into the trash. He really didn't want to take the chance of Buffy finding out what

was in it.

As he followed Buffy through the alleys and around the warehouses, he cursed that they

hadn't at least gotten to patrol a park area or something. This was a lousy place to be

trying to have this conversation, but if he didn't do it now, he'd never get up the guts.

"Buffy,"

"Hmmmm?" Buffy said as she wandered down the alley. She knew there was something

on John's mind. He was way to nervous. It couldn't be that they were looking for trouble,

was it that they were helping demons instead of killing them? She hadn't though he had

trouble with Clem, but he'd been silent and behind her when she was talking to him. And

this was the first time they'd been alone since they got up this morning.

"When I was with Dawn in LA,"

"Are you going to tell me about the hellhounds?" Buffy turned around and backed John

into the wall of the alley. "I don't remember much but I do remember her saying

something about hellhounds when she put me to bed."

John cursed to himself. He was in for it now. He'd seen that look in Mary's eyes before.

This was not the time for that discussion, but he'd have to admit it now. Otherwise he

was going to be dead in about five seconds, ten if he was lucky. "No, that was about two

days after you sent Dawn to me. I was in the middle of a hunt and couldn't stop."

"So you took her with you!" Buffy yelled at the top of her lungs.

"She was never in any danger."

"You took her hunting hellhounds!" Buffy picked him up and shook him. "What were

you thinking! Willow sent her to you for protection!"

"She didn't get near them until they were dead!" Buffy stopped shaking John. She looked

at him closely. He was telling the truth.

"You left her behind?" she growled.

"No! I knew where they were going to be because I dreamed it. I set up an ambush.

They never got near us. Dawn never left my side until we got here. I used a sniper rifle

and blessed silver bullets on the hellhounds. Dawn did help me clean up the carcasses

though." He hoped she wouldn't kill him for that. Maybe he should have left instructions

for Sam to take custody of Dawn after all.

"You dreamed it." Buffy said flatly. "Like Sam does?" John nodded. She slowly put

him down. "Dawn didn't go near them?"

"Only after they were all dead. There was a pack of six of them. Dawn did cut their

heads off though. Then we burned the carcasses." Maybe he would get out of this alive.

Buffy stood there, hands still wrapped in the folds of his shirt. The look on her face was

ice cold. This was what Willow had meant, he realized. There was nothing more

dangerous in the world than a mother whose child was in danger. And Buffy's maternal

instincts were very strong indeed.

Slowly Buffy began to relax. "She cut their heads off?" John nodded. He thought he'd

wait a while before telling her just how enthusiastic Dawn had been about the whole

thing. "They were already dead?" He nodded again. They had been mostly dead. They

couldn't move or regenerate with the silver in their hearts. "Anything else?"

"I bought you a wedding ring if you want it?" Once the words were out of his mouth he

could have kicked himself. That was the last thing he should have said. He could see the

fire in her eyes, which had just started to cool down, blaze up again. Buffy very

deliberately let go of him and began to stalk off. He cautiously followed her and saw her

walk up to a large group of people. They were vampires. They were all dust within ten

seconds. Oh, he had really pissed her off this time. He watched her for the next several

hours, practically floating through anything that got in her path and didn't get out of the

way. He didn't know what her criteria for letting something go and destroying others was,

but he recognized at least three different kinds of demons he himself had taken days to

hunt and kill going down under Buffy's fists, feet and rarely weapons in a matter of

seconds. It was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. Too bad it was him she was

pissed at. Finally Buffy turned to him and flatly told him to go back to the house. He

resisted the urge to salute and instead gave a short bow one of his marine buddies had

practiced with John when he learned he was being sent to Japan. He then turned and left.

Well, he thought, at least I made it out in one piece, and she didn't say no.


	8. Chapter 8

Buffy walked into the warehouse looking for Willow. She was manning the counter in

Joyce's place. Giles was escorting Joyce out to his car, her hand on his arm. She stopped

to giver her mom a quick hug and a chance for both of them to check the other's health.

With one fewer worry on both their parts, Buffy went over to Willow and Joyce headed

for home.

As she walked up to the counter, the demons watched her with wary eyes. She was

covered in vampire dust, but the demon blood was mostly hidden. Not that it mattered.

They all knew who she was and what she was capable of. The slayer was after all, the

traditional boogie-girl for these demons. Willow took one look at her face and in best

friend fashion knew that Buffy needed to talk and it couldn't wait. She called Tara over

to take her place and ushered Buffy off to a private corner.

"What's wrong?" she asked as she sat down on a convenient crate. Buffy paced up and

down in front of her. She had vented the worst of her anger, but now the upset that had

triggered it was nearly overwhelming.

"John took Dawn hunting hellhounds. He did it right, she never got near a live one, but

the fact that he did it at all." Buffy paused and just shook for a moment. "She helped

take care of the carcasses after. I know he didn't have much choice if he wanted to

protect her, he was in the middle of the job by himself when you sent Dawn to him."

"And you don't want her anywhere near anything like that." Willow said, sympathetic.

"No. I get so scared. Do you think this is how Mom feels when I go out on patrol?" she

asked in a small voice.

Willow got up and gave Buffy a hug. The answer was simple, but would be hard for

Buffy to hear. "Yes." she said simply. They stood quietly for a few minutes. "Is he in

one piece?" Willow asked as she sat herself and Buffy back on the crate.

"Yeah. I vented on the vamps. And a few demons too." she laughed, but it wasn't nice.

"He followed me for about three hours. Maybe that will make him reconsider his bright

idea. I sent him back to the house."

"What bright idea was that?" Willow asked nervously.

"He bought me a wedding ring while he and Dawn were in LA."

Willow gasped. "He asked you to marry him!"

"No, he said he bought me a ring if I want it." she huffed getting upset all over again. "I

know the idiot's big on family, but really! He hadn't even met me when he bought the

ring. And when he told me about it, he didn't even bother to ask me! We've known each

other for less than 24 hours, Willow. And I met the man covered in demon goo!" she got

up to pace again. "He never asked if I had a boyfriend. Ok, ok," she waved off Willow's

attempt to speak. "I know Riley and I are on the way out. We've talked about how I'm

going to break up with him tomorrow when he gets back. That is if he hasn't shaped up.

Which I doubt he has. Combat the man can handle, not real life stress. That's why I told

him to go help out the Army with their little demon problem. I hope he didn't damage

those books Giles lent him." Buffy wrenched her mind away from Riley and back to what

was really bothering her, John. "I let him see the slayer, Willow. I went full out for three

hours. I even picked him up and shook him when he told me about Dawn. He's even

seen me eat! No normal guy is going to be wanting to marry that." She turned tear filled

eyes on Willow. "No one in their right mind would ever want to marry a slayer."

John walked into the kitchen and found Sam making coffee and reading. "How'd the

patrol go?"

John sat down with a cup of coffee for himself. "Well, I managed to piss Buffy off

enough that she killed about 20 vamps and about a dozen demons in three hours."

"Dad," Sam groaned, putting his head on his fist. "I know you lack interpersonal skills.

but how in the hell could you have pissed her off that bad?"

"When Dawn first arrived in my truck, I was hunting hellhounds. I took them out in an

ambush with a sniper rifle and Dawn decapitated them. When Dawn put her mother to

bed she told Buffy about it. On patrol Buffy demanded to know exactly what had

happened. So I told her. I knew she was pissed, but I still screwed up."

"Something tells me it was more than just Dawn going on her first hunt that had Buffy

pissed off, Dad." Sam pointed out.

"She wanted to know if there was anything else she should know about. I told her I'd

bought her a ring if she wanted it." John shrugged. "She was pissed, but at least she

didn't say no."

Sam laid his head down on the breakfast bar counter and began gently thumping his head

on it. Just then Dean walked in and put his hand under his brother's head. "Dad? Why is

Sammy beating his head on the counter?"

"I screwed up proposing to Buffy." John admitted.

"He didn't screw up, Dean." Sam said forcefully, "He FUBAR'd it."

"Were you still wearing your wedding ring?" Dean asked. He didn't see it, something

that was just slightly wrong to him.

John glared at him. He pulled on the chain around his neck that held his dog tags and

showed Dean that his old ring was on the chain. "No, even I'm not that stupid."

"How did you manage to get married to Mom if you managed to screw up this badly with

Buffy?" Sam wanted to know. Dean started looking in the cupboards for a thermos now

that Sam wasn't banging his head.

"Well for one thing your mother didn't pick me up over her head and shake me during the

conversation." John replied sarcastically. "Mike and I had gone to a party at a frat house

where we had some friends. Mary was there with some of her friends. We knew each

other from everyone going out on group activities. Honestly I think one of her friends

dared her, but she proposed to me. I was drunk enough to say yes, and sober enough to

realize that if I didn't I'd regret it for the rest of my life. We eloped that night."

That was it. Dean lost it. The giggles he had been holding in at the thought of tiny,

barely five foot Buffy holding his six foot two inch dad over her head, and probably off

his feet, and shaking him erupted into full blown belly laughs at his dad's description of

how his parents had ended up married. Sam just stared. "You wanted to know." John

pointed out. He'd known for years that Dean would find the situation funny, but he

thought that the rolling around on the kitchen floor was a bit much.

"Tell me the two of you stayed married because you loved each other." Sam pleaded.

The thought of everything that had happened in his life occurring out of duty rather than

love was more than he could take. Proposing to Buffy out of duty he could understand,

turning them all into hunters out of duty he couldn't.

"With all my heart, Sammy." John reassured his son. It would be Sam who thought of

that possibility.

"So what did Buffy say?" Dead asked from the floor to break up the chick flick moment.

He could see his dad was all in one piece, and knowing Buffy, it had to be good. Well,

not good for him getting a new step-mom of course.

"She didn't say anything. She let go of my shirt and went slaying for the next three hours.

she got about 20 vamps and a dozen other demons. She just went through them like they

weren't even there." John shook his head in wonder. "I've never seen anything like it. It

was..." he shook his head again. He couldn't describe it. It was far too beautiful.

"Poetry in motion." Dean said from the floor. He caught his dad's look and shrugged. "I

had to watch while she and Spike took out Glory's minions. I know what you're talking

about. Blew my mind once I had a chance to rewind the memory."

John shook his head. "Then you didn't really get the chance to appreciate it." he said, the

wonder and awe he was still feeling showing in his face and voice. Dean got up off the

floor and shot a look at Sam. John sighed. They could completely close him out when

they did this. Being able to communicate without words was a necessary skill, but his

boys took it to a whole new level.

Dean: 'Do you see that!'

Sam: 'Is that what I think it is?'

Dean: 'I think so, uncertain'

Sam: 'Wow'

Dean: 'Yeah' Big grin 'This is going to be good'

Sam: 'agreement We're going to have to help him with her'

"You boys done?" John asked sarcastically. If he knew them, he was in for another

round of teasing.

"Yep!" Dean said without losing the grin. He filled up the thermos and headed back out

to patrol.

"I put Dawn to bed, and set up the extra wards in her room. I also found Hank Summers."

Sam said. "He's in Madrid, Spain. I have to wait a few hours, but then I can start hacking

into the data bases I need."

"I talked to Buffy. The monks made that memory the worst they could. She has two sets

of memories due to the spell that told her the truth about Dawn. What really happened

was he was dumping all his responsibility on Joyce. The exact quote Buffy gave me was

'She's turning into a little trouble making tramp and its all your fault. You just aren't

disciplining her enough. Who knows what those little creeps she's dating are getting her

into.'. He also didn't know she could hear him."

"Well I do know he got transferred to Spain because his boss was getting too many

complaints about sexual harassment. Give me a few days to get the rest." Sam just

looked at his dad. He knew that with that single piece of information Hank Summers had

moved up to number two on the Winchester family hit list, right behind the family

demon. Mistreatment of women was probably his dad's biggest hot button. Push it and

get John Winchester at his worst.


	9. Chapter 9

It was very early in the morning. Normally Willow would be headed for bed, but she had

an appointment with a Winchester. Too bad it wasn't the one she wanted to string up by

certain portions of his anatomy. How dare he treat Buffy so badly! If someone is going

to propose, he needs to actually ask the question. Dean Winchester was sitting on the

park bench waiting for her not far from her and Tara's dorm room. With Dawn back

home and that crisis averted, she and Tara had moved back out.

"I know I'm supposed to ask you about how your first patrol went and all Dean, but I've

got to ask. Is your father always such a jerk!" Willow demanded after marching up to

him.

"Oh yeah. He told me and Sam how he'd FUBAR'd that all up." Dean patted the bench

beside him. "Come on and sit down, we've got a lot of talking to do."

Willow sat down, but it was due more to her tiredness than wanting to be civil. At least it

sounded like John had admitted he'd screwed up. That was what fubar meant right? "He

hurt Buffy badly, you know."

"No, I didn't." dean instantly lost his good humor. "He said he screwed up and pissed her

off."

"He didn't ASK anything. Not, are you involved? Not, do you want to get married? Do

you want Dawn involved with hellhounds? Ok, he got stuck in a bad situation there, but

there were no questions about future involvement. He never said anything at all about

why he went and bought her a ring BEFORE he'd even met her. And not one single word

about her being the slayer." Willow panted in indignation.

"Well, from what I understand he was too busy wondering if Buffy was going to shake

him to death over the hellhounds thing and the 'I bought you a ring' just kind of came out.

No one has said my dad has any social skills that don't involve cons, Willow. Con

someone into giving him whatever he needs for his hunt, no problem. Telling someone

about what's going on in his own head? Hercules had an easier time with his twelve

tasks. He's a hunter, a mechanic, a father and not much else. As for Buffy being the

slayer, I think that's what got him hooked." Dean leaned forward to show Willow how

serious he was about this. "He watched her fight tonight and was blown away. The last

time I saw that look on my dad's face, he was watching my mom put a six month old

Sammy to sleep in his crib. It was the last time I saw my mother alive. Buffy being

Dawn's mom opened up the possibility for my dad to get married again. But it was seeing

her in action that touched his heart. He fell in love with her tonight, Willow. He doesn't

realize it yet, but he did. And when my dad falls, he falls hard. So Sam and I are going to

try to help him court her. Can we count on your help?"

"Con?"

"We're independents, Willow. We have no one backing us up with money, so hustling

pool and poker, and odd jobs provide us with most of our money. We also do a lot of

undercover work, passing ourselves off as feds, or security, or whatever we need to get

into and out of crime sences, etc."

"Oh." Willow was shocked. Not about the cons Dean had admitted to, once she thought

about it, the Scoobies had done much the same, except for the part about hustling and that

was because they had other ways to get money. After all, didn't she regularly hack the

councils bank accounts? No what really had her shocked was Dean's admissions about

his dad.

John Winchester, an ordinary and very stupid human male, had seen the slayer in all her

grisly glory and had fallen in love? And his sons wanted her help in planning how he was

going to court Buffy? What was wrong with this picture? Wasn't John supposed to be

regretting he'd let Buffy know about the ring at all? He certainly wasn't supposed to be

making plans to court her! But then again, maybe that's just what Buffy needed.

Someone who wasn't cursed, or who used women, or was upset that the slayer upstaged

him.

Willow closed her eyes and thought about everything she knew about the Winchester

men. She knew that if she was going to make an accurate picture of John Winchester, she

had to include his sons, because he had raised them by himself. They were supernatural

hunters, that was a plus. They didn't seem to have any trouble with harmless demons.

Dawn had said that their checklist for what kind of things to hunt was based pretty much

on one question. Did it kill people? That was very similar to Buffy's way of looking at

things. John and Sam had treated them all with respect, regardless of gender, age, or

experience. Dean also treated everyone very well. The only difference had been how he

had flirted with herself and Tara. He never once crossed the line with either of them, but

he had told her once that he was disappointed that they were involved with each other.

Not because he had anything against gays, but because he was looking for a girlfriend

who was already in the business, and he had hoped that one of them might be the one.

So, all three men had shown respect for women and respect for those who were

professionals in their type of business. Unlike Riley, who had never really shown respect

for any of the Scoobies, and who was always trying to 'outdo' Buffy. They were macho,

but it was aimed inward, rather than outward. I must be the best man I can be, rather than

I am so much better than everyone else. And John Winchester was a mature and

handsome man. A stupid one, but in her opinion even smart men were stupid when it

came to women. It was one of the reasons she had given them up. "I don't recommend he

get her a stuffed pig. If he really likes the slayer part of her and wants to show that he

accepts it, I'd recommend weapons. Bright, shiny and sharp are her favorites. She also

likes oreos, ice skating, pink roses only, chocolate is good, but most of all, he has to wait

until she gets rid of Riley."

"Who's Riley?"

"The boyfriend your dad didn't ask about." And with that Willow got up and left Dean

gaping on the bench.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: This chapter has an idea I got from ChristaBelle

Anya's reasons (and destination) for leaving Sunnydale

Thank you so much for reviewing!

Spike hated not being able to kill humans. A group of pissed brats had him treed like a

stupid cat. Not that they knew he was up in the tree. He'd hauled a trio of Gle'ckiodi

children and their mum up into the branches to avoid them being seen. Oh who was he

kidding? He was just plain whipped. He was no hero. All he wanted was to drink down

the idiots. but not only could he not kill the stupid humans, the whelp wouldn't want the

little demon kids to get hurt, so here he was, stuck up in this sodden tree waiting for the

bloody pissed humans to leave.

His unlife sucked! First Dru leaves him, then he gets chipped, and then to top it off,

Harris of all people, accidentally recreates his breed's marriage ritual! Which made him

Spike's mate! And he couldn't even get a shag out of it! They were both straight. And

the most humiliating of all, it made the Scoobies his family. Bloody white hats. He

would not admit how much he liked them. No, he wouldn't. He firmly turned his mind

away from Xander and the unfairness that was his current predicament. He checked the

positions of the humans and saw they were moving off. Slowly he slipped down out of

the tree and put the child he was holding down. Then he gestured for the other two to be

handed down to him. Then he finally helped the mum down. "Right, off you go now.

And remember, the slayer wants everyone working together on this." He bent down and

looked each of the children in their four eyes. "You know what they slayer will do if you

don't obey your mum. Stay out of sight of the humans! They're a nasty lot." He nodded

at the demoness who wasted no time in getting her offspring back underground. Well, at

least terrorizing the little demons brats had been fun. First haul them up in a tree when

they are cave dwellers, and then threaten them with the slayer. He sighed and returned to

his patrol.

Two Mitfragotrs and a stupid fledge who wouldn't back down later and Spike was feeling

much more cheerful. It was getting close to dawn and time for him to return to Harris'

basement. He'd even managed to get three Hectalik for his own meals. The last one he

had stuffed in a bag for later. He met Xander at the house and followed him into the

basement.

Xander was giggling as he tied Spike up into his chair. He took a look at Spike's

expression and said "No, Spike. I haven't finally lost it."

"Too bad, twit. It'd be an improvement." was Spike's reply.

"Actually, Dean got me started. We'd stopped by Buffy's house for some coffee and he

came back giggling his head off." Xander started stripping down to his shorts for bed. "It

seems his dad got a taste of why it's not a good idea to mess with Buffy tonight."

"What'd the slayer do?" Spike asked curious. He thought that those two were getting

along rather well, all things considered.

"It seems John took Dawn hunting hellhounds. Dawn was never in any danger, but it

pissed off Buffy and she picked the guy up over her head and started shaking him."

Xander mimed the position. "Can you see it? Big bad John Winchester and our teeny

tiny little Buffy?" Still sniggering, Xander crawled into his bed. "Night Spike."

"Night Xan." Spike had to admit, the was a funny sight to imagine.

Four hours later, Anya came bursting into the basement. "Xander! Wake up, I've got..."

Anya stopped and stared. Xander was asleep in his fold out bed, and Spike was tied up in

a chair beside the bed. Anya was horrified. Xander had married Spike. While he was

dating her.

Spike wasn't sure if he should sit back and enjoy the show or stop it all together. Oh hell,

he thought, he couldn't let Xander get hurt. And the demon bird would do just that.

"Anya." he called softly. She stumbled over to him, not taking her eyes off Xander.

Spike sighed and glanced away. "It's not his fault. He doesn't know."

"He doesn't know?" Anya looked at Spike. The vampire was telling the truth. No male

could be squirming in shame like that and not be. "You didn't tell him?"

"I couldn't. He had me gagged the first week."

"So this is an accident." Spike nodded. Well, that made her feel better. Accidental

cheating didn't count. You had to know you were involved with someone before you

could cheat on them. But now that she knew, to stay with Xander would be to become

the other woman. There was no way she could do that.

"Xander!" Anya shook him awake. "Xander! Wake up!"

"What? Anya I was out late on patrol, I'm too tired for sex now." Xander tried to go back

to sleep, but Anya wouldn't let him.

"Xander I'm breaking up with you."

"HUH?"

"You married Spike and I won't be the other woman. I'll stay in Sunnydale until the

swarm passes, but then I'm leaving. I'm going to New York. I'm getting a share of the

Hectalik and I'll be taking them to New York to sell as gourmet food items. I came to ask

you to go with me but as you are married to Spike now, that would be cheating. It's not

your fault, you didn't know, but now you do. So, good-bye Xander." Xander stared at her

as she walked out the door.

"MARRIED!"

"Not really." Spike answered shortly. "You're my mate, but I'm not yours. Demon bint

doesn't allow for distinctions like that."

"What!" Xander yelped again.

"When you tied me up like this you were recreating the Aurliean mating ritual. But

there's been no shagging. So, you're my mate, but I'm not yours. Got it that time?" Spike

snarked. He really didn't want to talk to Xander about this.

"I'm going back to sleep." Xander muttered to himself as he put his words into action.

"This has to be a nightmare."

"I wish!"

Xander stormed into the Summer's living room and slammed himself onto the couch next

to Dean. He hadn't been able to sleep after Anya's visit and he remembered that Dean had

some kind of book about vampire relationships. Dean was reading the paper while Sam

and John were rolling up their sleeping bags. "Where is that book you were reading about

vampires?"

"Which one? There are a lot of those around here." Dean was a little wary. If Xander

was asking about the book he thought he was, someone had spilled the beans about Spike.

He wasn't sure Spike would survive that explanation, even if it wasn't Spike's fault.

"The one you were reading when you asked me about Spike." Xander said in a huff. He

really didn't have time for the run around. If he had married Spike, he needed to know.

He also needed to know if there was a way out of it.

Dean got up and grabbed his bag. It took a few seconds to find the book in question, but

when he did, he handed it to Xander. There was nothing he could say.

He watched Xander head off for the dining room. He then picked the paper back up.

"Sammy get a move on. I think I found a place. Dad, you want to come check it out with

us or do you want to stick around here?"

"I have to check Dawn's school work from last night. You know what we're looking for.

Give me a ring when you've found it."

They nodded and left the house arguing over where to check first.


	11. Chapter 11

Sam and Dean were meeting with a Realtor. And not just any Realtor, but a Sunnydale

business Realtor. John had been very specific when he had told Sam what he wanted. a

mechanic's garage for them to generate some legal income and a decent apartment above

it. That would keep out the vampires. Sam had already volunteered to run the office so

Dean and John could concentrate on fixing the vehicles. That would also give Sam a

place to keep all of their personal research on their demon and Hank summers. That was

something they didn't need to be advertising.

The first place they checked out was terrible. Too small, too run down, and there was no

way it could be defended. The second one however, was perfect. It had two bays for

repair work, two offices in back and a break room with a shower on the ground floor. A

single, inside stairway was the only way to get to the apartment above. The apartment

itself was amazing, especially when Dean considered what they were used to. There were

three bedrooms, two baths, an actual kitchen and living room. Ok, so the kitchen and

living room were only separated by a breakfast counter and none of the bedrooms were

what you could call big, bathrooms either. But it was still better than most of the places

Dean had stayed in his life. Sam wasn't sure until he found out that the entire building

was available to buy for the back taxes, which was about the price he had worked out

would be the maximum they could spend on rent for both the garage and the apartment.

As they had scraped up enough between the three of them to cover the first month's rent

and a deposit, Dean sent Sam off to buy the building and began to unload the Impala.

Although his dad or Sam could have rented the place, he thought that Sam was the one in

the best position to actually purchase a building. No one was looking for him, on the off

chance that his dad had gotten into a bad spot, and well, he was legally dead. Besides, it

gave Sam a good excuse to stick around, maybe even finish up school here, rather than

going back to Stanford.

With a grin on his face, Dean started setting up the wards with Missouri's herb balls, one

in each wall on both floors. He knew they were only the most basic of purification, but

he was sure he could get one of the girls to do some of the stronger stuff. Salt lines across

all the doors and windows to the apartment. His gear into the smallest bedroom, Sam's in

the middle one. He would need a bigger bed, not that any of them were small men. His

dad could have the relatively largest one. The Impala was sitting in the car 'waiting' area

next to the repair bays. Dean ran his hand over her hood and could feel her contented

satisfaction. "Yeah, you like it here don't you, baby?"

"The paint job could use touching up, Dean." John said as he walked in the open bay

door carrying a few bags with Dawn right behind him.

Dean rushed over and grabbed two of the bags from John. "Don't talk about her like that

if front of her!" he whispered in a growl. He marched up the stairs in front of a very

shocked John and Dawn. Dean put the bags down on the counter and turned to face his

father and sister. He knew John would not let him get away with any back talk so he had

to get his explanation out fast. "She's not possessed, but she is aware. Kind of like a day,

I guess." He took the box Dawn was holding. "When I touch her I can sense her feelings.

She knows you Dad. Don't hurt her feelings please. It's not like I can reason with her.

She doesn't think. She just feels."

John nodded. This must be part of what Sam and Buffy had told him about, Dean's

abilities. He joined Dean in the very familiar process of moving into a new place. He

wasn't sure what to think about the Impala, though. His old car was aware? What did

that mean? "You sure it's not possessed? I've had more than a few ghost passengers over

the years."

Dean nodded. "Possessed objects 'feel' different. Especially if its a vengeful spirit. She

isn't confused, or upset, or anything like what a ghost would be feeling. And she doesn't

feel any more intelligent than an animal. What I get from her is more pure emotion than I

get from anything else I pick up from other things. Those I guess you could call traces of

people. Like instead of leaving their socks behind, they left this print of feeling and

thoughts. She's more like a family pet. She likes being inside, she likes being driven fast,

she likes it when both Sam and I are there, she doesn't like anything but people in the

front seat." Dean shrugged. "Besides, after Sam crashed her through the front door of a

house to get rid of that Lady in White right before Jess died, I put enough wards and

charms in and on her to make her ghost and possession proof."

"Good idea. I'll have to check it out and see if I need any of those for my truck." John

said. "You got the wards up here I see. How many bedrooms?"

"Three, that one's yours, Dad. Dawn, you ever sleep over here, I'll bunk in with Sammy."

"Ok. You guys do realize you have absolutely no dishes, right? Or furniture?" Dawn

asked, looking around the extremely bare apartment even after moving in all of her

family's things.

"Don't worry, Dawn Patrol." Dean smirked at her exasperated look. "We've done this

tons of times. A couple of trips into LA and we'll be set. I still don't know how we got

this place so cheap. Even just paying back taxes on it should have set us back more."

"Recent hellmouth victim." was Dawn's expert pronouncement. "taxes here are the

lowest in California. And this place probably hasn't been on the market for more than a

couple of weeks. In fact, it might have gone on the market as quickly as 24 hours after

the former owner's deaths. When you add in the time of year, back taxes are probably

under $1,000.00." She led the way back down the stairs.

"Mate for unlife." Xander growled as he drove to the airport. Today was just not his day.

First he finds out he's married to Spike. Anya breaks up with him. And then he finds out

there is no divorce among the undead, the only way to dissolve an undead marriage is for

one of the partners to dust. And when he reached the logical and totally correct decision

to dust Spike and thus put both of them out of their misery, he made the mistake of saying

it out loud. In front of Dawn, who was doing her schoolwork across the table from him.

It wasn't John's look of 'if you make my daughter cry, you'll wish I'd killed you' that hurt

Xander. It was the fear in Dawn's eyes. Spike was her favorite baby-sitter and a good

friend to her. Xander'd had a sneaking suspicion that the bleached menace was teaching

her how to hot wire cars and use a cross bow. When he flat out asked her this morning,

trying to get John on his side, she admitted it. And all John said was, 'Good, I'll test you

on it later.'! What kind of dad said that? The dad who raised the men who defeated

Glory, he reminded himself.

And now he was the one who was sent to pick up Captain Cornfed. At least he and Spike

could agree on that much, he thought ignoring the fact that he and Spike were actually

getting along pretty well these days. Riley was a pathetic whiner whose sole redeeming

value was that when he was sleeping with Buffy; she gained weight. That was because

she wasn't worried about her food intake when she was getting sex. Stupid slayer drives

were more than Xander could understand at times. Mix them in with a California girl's

mentality and he was lost. Personally he thought John would be a much better candidate.

Yuck! Did he really just think that! Xander sat down hard in the waiting lounge chair.

John was Giles' age. He had two sons who were older than Buffy. That was wiggsom.

On the other hand, he was younger than Angel. And he was alive. He treated both Buffy

and Dawn right. He didn't whine. He had more than 20 years experience in the

supernatural and was still willing to listen when he didn't know something. And he was

smart enough to know that the Scoobies were the experts on the hellmouth. All of that

was good. Xander sighed. He knew his internal debate was pointless. They were both

adults and they didn't need his meddling. If they got together it would be their decision,

not his. And right now, Buffy was dating Riley. John had one really big thing going for

him though, Xander thought as he waved at Riley coming out of the security check point.

We dumped Dawn in his lap and he not only took her in and protected her, he sent us

Dean and Sam.

"Don't tell me, Buffy's not here." Riley said sarcastically.

"She's patrolling. Glory's taken care of, but we've got another situation." Screams

erupted over by the check in desk, followed by several of the female attendants

scrambling up onto the counter. "Welcome back, you're just in time for the apocalypse."

"Didn't we do that last year?" Riley whined as he followed Xander over to the counter.

There were four Hektalik behind the baggage check, all sniffling around. Xander sighed

and pulled out the pistol he'd gotten from Dean. Four clean shots later he loaded Riley up

with two of the carcasses.

The chief of airport security ran over to Xander and demanded the gun. "I'm outside the

security checkpoint." Xander said slowly. "And I only pulled it out to deal with these."

He shoved on of the dead creatures in the man's face. "Now, we are expecting an

inundation of these large rodents. They are a cousin to the lemming. They are coming

here to die. A single shot to the head will kill them. You have to kill them because they

are rodents. It is a health code violation. Have someone load up the carcasses and bring

them to this warehouse." Xander wrote down the address on a card and passed it to the

security chief who looked at him in shock. "You need to have the cleaning staff use

bleach with cedar oil to clean up the blood. Just have them put cedar chips in the bleach

bottles. We're part of the disposal crew. This warehouse is where the carcasses are being

held pending disposal. Thank you." Xander collected the remaining Hektalik and left the

building.

Xander managed to get Riley, his gear, the books he had borrowed from Giles (which had

held up amazingly well), and the dead demons into his car with a minimum of fuss. Well,

only fuss from Riley. Man, he was already getting on his nerves. Why did today have to

be his day off? Why couldn't someone else have picked the prick up?


	12. Chapter 12

When Dawn got back to her house she could hear Riley whining at Buffy about not

picking him up at the airport. Jerk, she thought. Couldn't he have managed to miss her

check on Grandma patrol break?

John Winchester took one look at the situation and blew. This Army brat (he was still in

uniform!) had come into someone else's house, was actually berating Buffy for doing her

duty, and he was doing it in front of Joyce; who was getting paler by the minute. He

stormed in, grabbed the punk by the ear and dragged him out of the house and onto the

front lawn.

Buffy asked her mother if she was ok. She nodded and held onto Giles' hand. A nod

from him ensured her that her mom was in good hands and then she followed Xander,

Dawn, Sam and Dean out onto the porch. Dawn was sitting on the railing. The other

three, however, were standing at attention. When she looked out onto the lawn she found

out why.

John Winchester was furious. No one treated a woman like that in front of him and

escaped unscathed. Normally he just threatened or beat the crap out of the jerk. But

because this low life was in the service, he had another option. Drill Sergeant. Keeping

the punk at attention, he ranted at how he was a disgrace to his uniform, his service, and

his country. He yelled about how only a pathetic little weasel could start an argument in

front of a sick woman. He screamed about how he should know what it meant to have a

duty to do. He managed to continue the rant/lecture for a good twenty minutes, circling

the punk the whole time, stopping at irregular intervals to lean into his face or one of his

ears. Then he sent him home.

Dawn was estatic. Finally someone had done something about the jerk. She bounced on

the railing. It was taking everything she had not to cheer. But from how her brothers

were standing at attention, it probably wasn't a good idea. John walked up to the porch.

"Buffy, is Joyce ok?" Although he didn't know it, those words were the only thing that

could have saved him from being stomped into goo by the tiny slayer. If he had said

anything other than an indication that he was protecting her mother; rather than her, she

would have seriously hurt him.

"Giles is taking care of her. I wanted to make sure he wasn't coming back in."

"If you'd like, one of the boys can stay here with them and Dawn. I know you have to get

back to work and I need to take a trip into LA, but I only need one of them with me."

"That'd be great." Buffy smiled. He had been defending her mother. And he had taken it

for granted that she had to be out patrolling.

"I'll stay." Sam volunteered. He wanted to know who that jerk had been and figured

Xander was a good bet to get that information. Besides, the LA trip was just to get

supplies for the new apartment. Dad and Dean knew his preferences. Arrangements

made, John and Dean headed to LA in John's truck while everyone else went back into

the house.

"Dad?" Dean asked cautiously after about an hour. He had wanted to give John some

time to cool off.

"Yeah."

"I'm not sure, but I think that might have been Buffy's boyfriend, Riley." Dean said

quietly. Personally he rather hoped it was. Having his dad go all drill sergeant on his ass

would help get the guy out of her life and give his dad a shot. Besides, who else could it

have been?

"Oh, Shit!" John cursed. If that was true, he'd really managed to screw up this time. And

right on the heels of his messed up proposal too. Not that he regretted giving the jackass

what he deserved, but it would have been better if he'd waited to see how she'd handled it.

Nothing like overstepping your authority, Winchester! he told himself. "I'm going to

have to apologize to her."

"Willow recommended pink roses. Apparently that's the only kind of roses she likes."

Dean offered.

"Dawn says she likes weapons, the more destructive the better." John countered.

"Bright, shiny, and sharp was Willow's description. But I thought we were talking about

an apology. Isn't that done with flowers?'

"You asked Willow what she likes?" John's heart sank. If Dean was interested in Buffy,

he wouldn't have a chance.

"Well, Sam and I figured if she's going to be our new step-mom, you're going to need

some help in actually getting her to say yes. So, yeah. I went and talked to Willow.

She's Buffy's best friend, if anyone knows what's up with Buffy it'll be her. By the way, I

also got a ranted list of just exactly how you FUBAR'd things up last night." Dean shook

his head. He knew how his dad had gotten there, but it was still a big mess.

"And she still told you what Buffy likes?" If Willow was willing to help, maybe he still

had a chance.

"Yeah, it took a while, but she did. Of course, if that was Riley, I can understand why

even with you screwing up she's willing to help." Dean snorted. John nodded in

agreement, about the only thing he could see the jackass had going for him was a little

beefcake. It certainly wasn't his attitude.

"The roses should be easy to get, along with a card. However, I should definitely get her

a present as well. I stomped on her authority pretty hard. Bright, shiny and sharp, huh?"

Dean nodded.

Buffy was running around the UC Sunnydale campus. If Riley was here she could kill

two birds with one stone. Tell campus security Xander's story about lemming cousins

and dump Riley. Making Joyce throw up on the day before her chemo treatment was the

last straw. After her quick meeting in the security office, where she found two of the

little demons to use as a demonstration, she saw Riley walking across one of the lawns.

"Come to apologize for letting that jerk drag me out of your house?" Riley asked

hopefully.

"Nope." Buffy said with her perkiest smile. (Which Riley really should have known

spelled trouble, after all he'd seen her like this out on patrol often enough.) "I'm here to

tell you if you ever go near my mother again, I'm going to break both of your legs!"

"What?" Riley stared at her dumbfounded. Her mother had been there? Was that what

the jerk had been yelling about?

"You made my mother so upset she threw up, Riley." dropping the perky attitude she

backed him into a tree. "That was the last straw. We are over. You are no longer

welcome as anything other than another fighter. And if you can't clean up your attitude,

you're not welcome at all."

"But what about Dawn?" Riley grasped at his last hope. "We're her parents, we have to

at least stick together for her."

"You know, you're right. I really should have Dawn's father stick around. After all, he

knew how to take care of you!" with that, Buffy stormed off and returned to her patrol.


	13. Chapter 13

Willow was walking on the UC Sunnydale campus looking for one of the survivors of her

high school graduation. There weren't a lot of those and most had left town as soon as

they could. Aphra wasn't one of them. She, in her own way had decided to stay and fight

the nightlife in her home town, as a nurse.

"Aphra!" Willow spotted her and waved. It was a bit hard as she was juggling the

packages Dean had just given her. He had only said that they were for Buffy from his

dad. She couldn't wait to see what was in them, although one looked suspiciously like

flowers.

"Hey, Willow! Tell me who was that cute guy giving you the packages? And is that

flowers? Aren't you dating that girl Tara?" Aphra's curious gaze was devouring the

packages in the crook of Willow's arm.

"Oh, no! It's nothing like that! Dean and I are yentaing for Buffy. You know,

matchmaking? Well, I'm hoping it'll work out, we're just at the pass the note stage now,

although if this package is what I think it is, John's moved up to flowers at least." Willow

shot Aphra a grin.

"Oh, boy! Does this guy know about her, ah, hobby?" Aphra looked at little worried.

She was a Sunnydale native (and not nearly as stupid as her name labeled her as) and she

was well aware of just how much she and the rest of the town owed the girl who

protected them. She didn't want Buffy to get her heart broken from a jerk who couldn't

understand.

"He's in the same business, and he's older so none of that, but I have to be the big man

stupidity." Willow blew a raspberry. "And he's seen her in her full glory, so to speak."

She lifted the boxes with her casted arm. "This is the next day's response, so it's looking

good. But there was something I needed to talk to you about. You work down at the

hospital, right?"

"Yes. I'm only an orderly, but a few more years and I'm getting that nursing degree."

"Well, over the next week or so, Sunnydale is having a large and 'unusual' rodent

problem."

Aphra paled. "Mayor sized unusual?"

"Only about three feet long and easily killed with regular guns. Poison won't work

though. The story we're giving out is that they are cousins to lemmings and they are

coming here to die. Which is actually rather close to the truth. Here is the address of the

disposal site for the carcasses." Willow handed her a card. "Tell everyone you know.

We are going to be swamped with the things. It's already started."

Aphra nodded. "Don't you worry Willow. I know just who to call. I made it a point to

know just who in city services knows about what goes bump around here, and wasn't on

the mayor's ass kisser list. I'll get the word out. Oh, and there is a cop in the hospital who

wants to see Buffy when she's free. She saved his life the other night, and he wants to

thank her." Aphra waved at Willow and walked off, jabbering into her cell phone.

"Well, that's one down." Willow murmured to herself.

Spike was sitting at the counter behind the laptop Willow had set up for the warehouse.

Currently he was the only one there, which he thought was a good idea because he was

barely awake. It was too early in the afternoon for him to be up.

"Excuse me?" Spike looked up at the flustered human.

"Yeah?" he got out. So he wasn't a day person, screw him, he was a vampire!

"Is this the rodent disposal site?" Spike blinked. Rodent? What was this idiot blithering

on about? "I've got a load of ten of the things from the airport and I was given this

address as the place to bring them." Spike just nodded his head and waved at the human.

He wished the idiot would just go away, he needed a nap.

The man returned pulling some kind of wagon. In it Spike could recognize a pile of

Hectalik. Oh, those rodents. He got up and tipped the wagon over and pushed it back at

the startled man. Ignoring the human, Spike loaded up on the bodies and began to move

them back to Anya's freezer pocket dimention. He might as well give them to her. After

all, she was the one who told Xander about the mess. And that meant that he would be

dust soon. It wouldn't be like he could get use out of them.

By the time he had cleared the carcasses the human was gone and he had woken up. Just

in time to see Xander walk in cackling like a hen. "What is it this time, whelp? I thought

you were supposed to pick up Captain Cardboard."

"I did, Spike. Oh god, I did. You should have seen it! Oh, I think I hurt myself

laughing." Xander sat down on the stool and held his gut. "It was so beautiful! I had no

idea John was a DI in a former life. Oh man!" he broke up again. Spike waited to hear

what had happened this time. It seemed that John Winchester was good for a laugh at

least. "He let Riley have it. The guy was whining all the way to his place and then all the

way to Buffy's about how I was the one to pick him up. Like Buffy really had the time, I

mean the girl is swamped right now, it apocalypse season for crying out loud. She barely

has time for herself on the regular patrol schedule sometimes. So he gets her at the door,

and he starts in on whining at her. I'm just behind him and I guess he doesn't notice Joyce

and Giles in the corner. I mean, I take one look at Joyce and I know it's a bad day for her.

But Riley, he just keeps on whining. The look on Buffy's face, I figure he's about to lose

his ability to eat food for at least six weeks, but before she can take a swing, all of a

sudden John's there. And he grabs Riley by the ear. The ear, man, like he's this five year

old getting caught raiding the cookie jar or something! And he hauls his ass out onto the

front lawn of all places and lets him have it! Full on Drill Instructor mode about how

much of a disgrace and a whiner and oh god, just everything! It was so good! I wish I'd

had a camera ready. He went on forever!" Xander just sat there giggling.

Spike sighed. It was rare for him to wish he could walk in the sun, but that was one sight

he really wanted to have been there for. "We had a bloke come in, human. Said he was

from the airport, and this was the rodent disposal site. I guess that's the story being put

out?"

"Yeah." Xander tried to calm his giggles but it wasn't easy. "I got four of the things over

at the airport and told them to wipe up the blood with bleach that had cedar chips in it.

That way the whole town won't smell like bleach for a month. And it gives the ordinary

people something that isn't hellmouthy they can deal with. You know, oh it's just a type

of rat, kill it and clean up the mess with bleach. They can handle that and it gets the

regular humans to help out too."

"It was a great idea Xan." Buffy said, as she walked in. "I let the campus security know

and Willow said she was going to get some of the city services people in on it. The

hospital, places like that. I really don't want to talk to the cops, but it looks like I'm going

to have to. Can you talk to the people over at the National Guard? I've talked to

everyone else who goes around Sunnydale armed in a regular capacity."

"Well, don't worry about that!" Willow said as she waltzed in. "I talked to Aphra, and

she's hitting the demonic emergency city services people. You know, the ones who

helped clean up after graduation? Any way, you saved a cop the other night and he wants

to meet with you to thank you. So, you can let the cops know about the Hectalik through

him. No need to spaz about the cops that way. Oh, and these are from John. He got

them in LA." She handed Buffy the packages and gave Xander a shove off the stool.

"You go on. I'll man the counter." Xander gave her a disbelieving look. There was no

way he was leaving until he saw what was in that package. With Spike standing over one

shoulder and Xander over the other, Buffy opened the packages on the counter. The first

one was a box of a dozen pink roses. There was a card with nice meadow scene on the

front. It was a blank card with a handwritten message inside.

I'm sorry for overstepping my authority. I should have let you deal with him. It was your

house, your mother and you he was mistreating. I can only say I have a temper where the

mistreatment of women are concerned and when I saw how upset Joyce was, I lost it.

That he could do such a thing, and in uniform no less, was more than I could take. I don't

know if my boys have told you this, but I'm an ex-marine and I take such things very

seriously. I hope you accept my apology.

John Winchester

Buffy stared at the card in shock. He had apologized for not letting her deal with Riley.

She slowly looked over at the other package. What could that be? She was almost afraid

to find out. In slow motion she set down the card, where Willow immediately grabbed it

up and began to read. The torn off paper revealed a simple wooden box. When she

opened it, she gasped in shock. Inside was a set of oriental throwing stars, all of them

made of silver, and intricately decorated. There was a note stating that each star had a

special clean spell put on it, so that they would stay as pristine as they were right now no

matter how many times they were used. Buffy took one out. These were not for show.

She ran a finger down one edge. These were sharp. Inside the case was a carry sheath

she could put on a belt. This was beyond words. He had gotten her weapons. She had

never gotten weapons as an apology before. Flowers, yes, but not weapons. She didn't

know how to react. Her thoughts just stopped on the one fact. He had gotten her

weapons. She picked up the case and held to her chest. She had work to do, but there

was no way she was going to leave these anywhere.


	14. Chapter 14

Xander, Sam and Dean were patrolling together. Each was armed with multiple pistols

and Sam and Dean had their sawed off shotguns as well. They had bags slung over their

shoulders that acted as never full game bags, where they could put any and all Hectalik

they shot.

"So, who's idea was the throwing stars, anyway?" Xander asked.

"You know about those?" Dean asked in return. He was already up to fifty and was

wondering just how many of the Hectalik the bag he was carrying could hold.

"Yeah, I was there when Buffy opened the packages. Good apology by the way." Xander

shot yet another Hectalik. "Thank God these are so easy to kill. You know Sunnydale

must be the only place in the United States where three young men can walk down the

street shooting and killing animals and no one, not even the cops," he stopped and waved

at a passing patrol car. "Even looks at us twice."

"You two got her throwing stars?" Sam asked with disbelief.

"Hey! Dad was apologizing and the flowers were my idea. He was the one who insisted

on stopping at the same place where he got her ring to pick those up for her." Dean

waved his hands, disavowing any participation on picking out the throwing stars.

"Willow did say she liked weapons though. So I'm hoping they went over well."

Sam just shook his head. "My father is insane."

"Your father might be insane, Sam." Xander told him. "But I haven't ever seen that big a

grin on Buffy's face. She was clutching that little box to her chest and I swear she was

about ready to burst." He stopped and faced them both. "She actually left the flowers

behind when she left the warehouse and she was walking like she was on cloud nine. I

don't know if it was the fact that he apologized or the weapons, but it definitely wasn't the

flowers. Your dad did good. He made my favorite slayer very happy. And I can't believe

that there are so many of those little demons!" His gun out and shooting Xander huffed in

annoyance. "Someone's got to make an ammo run to LA. We're going to run out."

Willow had never seen so many little demons. And she didn't mean the Hectalik. These

were all children, and they were rushing in and rushing right back out again. They would

come in with two or more Hectalik, drop one off at her counter and then rush off down to

the freezer where their families pocket dimention was. There they would drop off their

load and then they would rush out for more. The way these kids were harvesting the

demonic rodents she wasn't sure there would be any left to get anywhere near the

hellmouth.

She was sure however, that she would much rather be here than out on patrol. Between

the two of them, she and Giles had set some hard and fast rules about her use of magic.

And rule number one was no killing. Not even demons. This would be her post for most

of this apocalypse. She was just glad Sam and John's dreams had changed to show that

her participation didn't have to include killing any of the demons. No, she and Tara, who

also agreed that killing with magic was a bad idea, would be placing a magical wall type

barrier around the location of the hellmouth. At the moment that part of the school

grounds was not under construction, so they were going to be able to set up a barrier

enough of a distance away that the hellmouth itself wouldn't pose a problem. It also

would give the fighters a clear field of vision to see what they were shooting at.

In many ways this was going to be the strangest apocalypse ever. Getting the entire town,

human and demon, to help was mind boggling. Even if the humans had no idea what was

really going on. Adding in the use of guns rather than the usual hand weapons, well she

couldn't say that, they had used military weapons before, and they had used a lot of

explosives to take care of the mayor. But still, guns! They made her very uncomfortable.

She didn't know how to use guns. Even Tara had some experience with guns coming as

she did from a family where the men went deer hunting every year. It was a strange

feeling being the only one who didn't know something that everyone else did. Normally

she would just throw herself into learning everything she could about the subject and that

would be it. But not this time. She didn't like guns. She didn't want to learn about them.

But at the same time, she didn't like the feeling of jealousy she was experiencing towards

her friends.

So while she sat and watched the little demon children running back and forth, in and out,

she examined her feelings. Why did she feel this way? She didn't want to know about

guns. She never had. After many hours of struggling with this question, she made a

breakthrough. It wasn't the guns that were the problem. It was all about the power of

knowledge. For most of her life, knowledge had meant power. Power to defend herself

from those who made fun of her. Power to keep what frightened her at bay. More power

equaled less fear. But she had nothing to fear from her friends. But it was the fear that

was leading her into magical addiction. In order to turn away from that path, she had to

over come her fear.

Tara and Dawn were giggling. While it was hard being left behind while the others were

out patrolling, Dawn was grateful Tara was here to help her with her grandmother. Not

that Joyce needed any help, being sound asleep. But Tara always managed to throw off

these soothing vibes that would help to keep Joyce asleep. Something that Dawn knew

she really needed after what had happened earlier today. Today was supposed to have

been a day for her grandmother to gather her strength for tomorrow's chemo treatment.

The very last thing she needed was any kind of fuss or arguing. If she ever saw Riley

again, she swore to herself, she was going to sic her dad on him. That was something she

would love to see again. It had been sooo cool.

And so was listening to Tara's gossip about the patrol pairings for tonight. Of course

there was one paring she was more interested in than most. "They were so cute, Dawnie.

They were trying so hard to be professional, but they couldn't stop peeking at each other.

And they had the squirmy little blushing thing going on too. Although not really bad,

because I think I was the only one to notice."

"Thank goodness it's mostly the guys out tonight." Dawn laughed. "If anyone else had

caught them!"

Tara nodded. "It's a good thing guys are usually so oblivious to romance sometimes. I

mean unless they are really trying it just goes right over their heads. I know Dean asked

Willow's help to try and get them together, but he didn't even notice it was working! I

was kind of disappointed that there wasn't more, but it's still early yet. They are taking

the same patrol tonight though. That should help things along nicely. After all, it was

seeing her on patrol that really got him interested in the first place."

"It's so neat! My parents are actually interested in each other!" Dawn exclaimed. "I don't

care that for a teenager that's supposed to be gross. In my case, it's wonderful! I want

them married. You will tell me if there is anything I can do to help, right?"

"Yes, I will. I wasn't really sure at first. I mean he is much older than she is, but when I

look at them and they touch. Oh, Dawnie! Their auras blend together perfectly. It's so

beautiful!" They looked at each other and giggled again.

John would be the first person to admit he had no clue about women's fashion. However,

if he were to take a guess, Buffy knew rather a lot about it. Although why she would

wear such an outfit while slaying he had no idea. He usually got covered in muck, blood

and other stuff and his clothes had to be able to take it and still be serviceable the next

morning. The only thing he could think of was that she was so good at what she did, she

didn't have to worry about ruining her clothes. He knew that she was that good, and come

to think of it, the one time he had seen her covered in something, she had been wearing

some kind of sweats or something. But that skirt was just so distracting! He really

wished she hadn't worn it. He needed to be able to focus on the hunt. But at least it

looked like she was wearing his gift on her belt. She had given him a small smile when

he was paired up with her tonight, and worn that oh, so short skirt. Thank god all of his

jeans were worn and comfortable. If he had to be distracted, at least it wouldn't hurt too

badly.

Buffy watched John from the corner of her eye and used his reflection in the store front

windows that they were passing. He didn't seem to notice her outfit at all. Of course

from the way they all dressed, the Winchester men wouldn't know fashion if it bit them.

But she was disappointed he was able to keep his mind so totally on the patrol. It wasn't

very interesting, just keep shooting the little demons as they crawled out of the

woodwork, so to speak. There, vampire, behind John. She turned and tackled him, the

vampire missing in his grab for the hunter. Buffy fell on top of John and rolled right off

him and into the legs of the vamp. Seconds later, the vamp was dust, and she had a big

smile on her face. It seemed John had noticed her outfit and was trying to be a

gentleman.

John looked up from the ground. It had all happened so fast, it took him a second to

comprehend the fact that he was laying on the street. As Buffy leaned down and helped

him up he noticed her smile. So that was where Dawn had gotten that ear to ear grin.

Sam and Dean were eating take out at the breakfast counter when John walked into their

apartment. "I'm taking a shower boys."

"Dad, the gas hasn't been turned on yet. We don't have any hot water." Sam told him.

"Good." John said shortly and went directly to his room. Dean and Sam just looked at

each other and tried to stifle their laughter. They had seen what Buffy had been wearing

tonight, and it seemed their dad had as well.


	15. Chapter 15

Dean was baby-sitting. Which was fine, he'd baby-sat Sam for years. That he would take

turns baby-sitting Dawn was a given. What he wasn't so sure about was how he ended up

baby-sitting Willow and Tara's pet cat and their rat who was once a person. Tara had said

something about not wanting to leave them alone with all of the people out killing

Hectalik all over the place, but he didn't know how it would be possible to mistake a three

foot long demon rodent with a cat or a rat in a cage.

"Are you and Amy having a staring contest?" Dawn asked, looking up from the pieces of

the dismantled shotgun in front of her. Her dad and brothers still didn't have any furniture

other than their beds, but then they had only moved in yesterday. So she was standing at

the counter going over the pieces and trying to remember how to put it all back together.

"I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the idea that she used to be human. I mean I

know she used to be and I know it's possible to do. I've just never run into anything like

this before." Dean stood leaning on the counter, watching Amy in her cage.

"The worst part is not being able to communicate with her. Although Willow leaves the

TV on for her and makes sure she gets to watch her favorite shows with a brownie."

Dean looked over and noticed she was stuck. He silently pointed a finger at the next

piece and stared at his gloved hand. He had taken to wearing the gloves that Sam had

bought him almost constantly to avoid having his abilities triggered. He looked again at

Amy. He sighed and dropped his chin onto his chest. This was probably a bad idea. He

removed the glove from his left hand and slowly touched a finger to Amy's cage.

Immediately a flood of images entered his mind and he fell to the floor.

"Dean!" Dawn yelled and ran around the counter to her big brother. Fortunately for her

piece of mind he was already sitting up by the time she got there.

"I'm ok, I'm ok." he waved her off and stood up. "Woah! That was a head rush. Nobody

told me she turned herself into a rat to avoid being burned at the stake."

"Yeah, the Hansel and Gretal demon visited Sunnydale. Buffy slayed it, Oz said

something about a big pole being good for more than just tying people to. But Amy

turned herself into a rat before Buffy could save her. Did you get anything else?" she

asked curious about what this big brother's abilities. Sam's were mundane as far as she

was concerned. Dean was the one with the exotic powers.

"She doesn't want to turn back. She's still scared. That's why Willow and Tara haven't

been able to change her back." Dean shook his head. "I thought it was Willow who

turned Amy into a rat."

"No, she did it herself." Dawn confirmed. "Let's go...No, we can't talk to Giles, he's

with Grandma at the hospital." She paced back and forth for a minute. "This is

important. If we can work with her through you, then maybe she can de-rat herself. I

mean, yeah, Willow and Tara take good care of her and all, but she shouldn't have to

spend the rest of her life as a rat." She reached into the cage, pulled Amy out and cuddled

her.

Dean nodded. He wasn't sure he wanted to touch Amy's cage again, but at the same time

he couldn't not help her. Helping others who were in trouble was too much a part of him.

"What about that other Watcher guy? The one in LA? Maybe he'll have some ideas."

Dawn quickly gave Amy to Dean and grabbed her cell. "Wes? It's Dawn. Dean figured

out why Willow hasn't been able to de-rat Amy. She's still really scared. Do you have

any suggestions?" She reached over and petted Amy. "Faith's shrink? Are you sure?

Isn't she like a state institution shrink?" Dawn made a face, she really didn't like state

psychologists. "Oh, she's a private shrink. That's much better. Can she handle having a

rat as a patient? She's half what? How did that happen? No, never mind, I don't want to

know." Dawn shuddered. "It's none of my business how her parents got together. Is she

any good? Really? She's helped Faith that much? Is there any chance she'll be able to be

a slayer again, say in a year or so? Well, I want to give Mom a vacation. A real one, you

know? Maybe a honeymoon? Yeah, he's courting her. He got her these cool throwing

stars she's just gaga over. Even if we send her and Dad off, she'll just worry. But if Faith

is recovering and able to be here to cover for her, she won't. She's doing that good?

That's wonderful Wes! Can you make an appointment for her? Thanks Wes. Talk to you

later."

"So, who's Faith? Dean asked, putting Amy back in her cage.

"Well, it's a long story. Buffy drowned about six months after she and Grandma moved

to Sunnydale." Dawn said, going back to reassembling the shotgun. "She was dead long

enough for the next slayer to be called. That was Kendra. Kendra was killed about a year

later by Drusilla, Spike's sire. Faith was called then." Dawn looked up. "This next part

is kind of hard."

"No, it isn't, you" Dean moved to show her the next step to putting the shotgun back

together and got his hand slapped.

"No, not that! Brothers!" Dawn shook her head. Dean shrugged a 'what?' at her. "I

mean about Faith. She had a really bad life before she became a slayer and then she had

some even more bad things happen to her. I don't know the full details, all I know is she

lost her Watcher and she came running to Sunnydale to find Giles. It was probably the

worst timing ever. Buffy had just gotten back from running away and hadn't recovered

from sending Angel to hell. There was the whole slayer vs slayer competition thing going

on that no one really realized was happening. Then the Watcher's council did their best to

try to get both of them killed. And to top it off," Dawn looked at Dean with scared eyes.

"She had an accident. She and Buffy were having this running fight with a large group of

vampires and Faith killed a human. She went a little crazy after that. She's in jail

voluntarily now"

Dean pulled Dawn into a hug. "It sounds to me like she had reason to. But it won't

happen to Buffy, I promise. We're here for her. All of us. She won't ever be alone."

Few people would call his childhood a good one, he thought, but he'd had the most

important thing in the world to hold onto, his family. It sounded to him like the only

person this Faith had to hold onto was her Watcher. He didn't even want to think about

how bad losing the only person you had could screw up your head. It hit to close to

home.

Dawn shook herself and changed the subject. "So, what do you use a shotgun on? And

what kind of ammo do you use? When do I get to learn to shoot?"

Dean reached over and put his finger gently across her lips. "No Willow babble." he said

with understanding. "Go ahead and do it to Sam and Dad, but not me. I won't even try to

keep up." He gave her a little grin, which she returned. "Now, shotguns are just another

weapon. But the ammo we use is very different from your standard shotgun shell and

rounds. What we generally use is rock salt, and the occasional job might require

consecrated iron. Now as for what that's used against, there is a long list but the most

common is spirits. Rock salt, well any salt really, but rock salt is easier to use in shotgun

shells, will repel a spirit. The same with pure iron. Kind of like what a cross will do to

an Aurliean vampire. When dealing with a vengeful spirit, there are two ways to deal

with the problem. Number one and generally the most effective is to find the human

remains of the spirit and salt and burn them. The second is an exorcism." Dean held up a

shotgun shell he had been toying with. "These are for holding the spirit off while you go

after their bones."

"And what is consecrated iron good for?" Dawn asked as she presented the fully

assembled shotgun to Dean.

"Consecrated iron rounds or buckshot is good for stregas, but they have to be feeding

when you shoot them." Dean cautioned.

"It's no wonder Watchers start out their training so young." Dawn said, thinking about the

long list she just knew Dean, Sam and her dad could rattle off with ease of what weapon

and ammo was good for killing what kind of demon or spirit. "Are ghosts really such a

big problem? Buffy's only had to deal with one poltergeist."

"Poltergeists and vengeful spirits are different classifications. Probably at least half of the

jobs that we do are ghost related somehow." Dean answered as he took the shotgun back

apart. "Now, do it again." Dawn threw him a dirty look. "Hey! You're not blindfolded

and I'm not timing you." Dawn checked Dean's face. Yes, he was serious. she heaved a

big sigh and once again tried to put the shotgun back together. "When you finish we can

go and check on Joyce. She should be done at the hospital soon."

Dawn nodded. Chemo days were rough, not just on Joyce, but on everyone else as well.

She was glad the treatments were almost over. When they were, maybe Giles would get

up the courage to ask her grandmother out on a date. He may have thought he was being

sneaky, but both she and Buffy had noticed just how solicitous he had been with her

lately. There was no way Mr. Uptight British Gentleman was just helping out a friend,

even if she was his slayer's mom. She had just about finished when Sam came storming

up the stairs. "Dawn? Can I steal Dean for a minute?" Sam asked, not wanting Dawn to

see how upset he was.

"Sure," she said. Her attention was fully on the shotgun and she didn't even bother to

look up at her brothers.

Dean: 'What's up?'

Sam: 'Downstairs, NOW!' important

"Be back in a minute, Dawn Patrol." Dean said, giving her long hair a tug. Downstairs

he cornered Sam in the office. "What's wrong?" he demanded.

"Did Dad tell you about Hank Summers?" Sam asked pacing the office.

"Joyce's ex and Buffy's dad. He's a low down creep who got kicked out of the country by

his company because he was sexually harassing the female employees. Probably ran

around on Joyce. Called Buffy a few names one night when he caught her sneaking in

after a patrol one night and blamed everything on Joyce. Dad wants to nail his hide to the

wall, and I'm not sure I'm being figurative. Also I'm guessing he deserves it." Dean

stated, his expression furious.

"Dad told me to find out everything I could so we could figure out a way to take care of

him. Preferably without killing him. I've managed to confirm at least three affairs, one at

least I'm pretty sure both Buffy and Dawn knew about. But Dean," Sam's voice broke.

"He had Buffy committed."


	16. Chapter 16

Joyce insisted very vocally that Buffy was not to neglect her slaying because of her. Just

because she was tired and sick to her stomach did not mean that Buffy was to stay home

and coddle her when the world needed her out killing demons. Buffy smiled at her mom.

"Don't worry about it. This is my regularly scheduled down time. And if I chose to spend

it taking care of you, that's my choice."

"But Buffy,"

"Relax, Mom. Remember, this slayer has more good backup than any other slayer in

recorded history. I can take a few hours off for a little mom/daughter time. Besides, I

really want to tell you about what John did yesterday. After he took care of Riley, that

is." Buffy smiled and restrained herself from bouncing as she did not want to upset her

mother's stomach any more than it already was.

"What did he do?" Joyce asked. She was very grateful for John's intervention yesterday.

She had been in no shape to take care of the young man herself and while she was certain

that Buffy could have handled Riley with one hand tied behind her back, it was wonderful

to hear someone else stand up for her daughter.

Buffy grinned. "He apologized for losing his temper and not letting me deal with Riley.

He did the usual and got me a card and some flowers, but you know how when a guy is

really sorry he gives a present along with the flowers?" Joyce nodded her head and

settled back into her pillows. She really hadn't had a chance to talk to Buffy about John.

"He got me a set of throwing stars!" Buffy sighed happily and pulled them out to show

Joyce. Joyce had the feeling that Buffy was more excited that he had gotten her what

looked to her like a few pieces of very sharp and fancy engraved metal than she would

have if he had gotten her a chauffeured limo and an all expenses paid trip to the world's

biggest shopping center. The last time she had seen Buffy this excited had been back

before the divorce and her being called as the slayer when she and Hank had gotten Buffy

a year's worth of riding lessons.

"So what do you think of him?" Joyce asked.

"He's a good man, Mom. We dumped Dawn almost literally in his lap and he did

everything he could to protect her. Although I'm still not happy he took her hunting

hellhounds." Joyce nodded, she'd heard about that over a late night bowl of ice cream.

"He has settled down here in Sunnydale so he can be near her rather than try to take her

away from us or just dump her back into our laps and take off. I like the way he treats

her, but I'm still confused as to why he's scared of her going on a sugar rush. He's a

gentleman but he doesn't treat me like I'm a little girl who needs protecting. On the other

hand, he wasn't at all shy about protecting you, which is something I'm very happy to see.

He doesn't seem to have a problem with my being a slayer." Buffy paused and ran her

fingers over the throwing stars again. "On the other hand, he is handsome, which is not

of the good. I've never had good luck with handsome guys. Both of his sons are older

than I am and I have no idea what they think of this situation. I've only known the guy for

a couple of days, so I haven't seen him do anything that could be annoying, and I know he

has to have some kind of bad habits. I think he might be interested in me, but I'm not sure

what he really wants." Buffy shrugged in confusion. "I guess I like what I've seen so far,

but I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop. I mean, no one's ever been able to accept

both sides of me before, you know?"

"Not even?"

"No, not even Angel, Mom." Buffy smiled sadly. "He came the closest, but Angelus was

always yelling at him to kill me or do something else that I'm sure I don't want to know

about, and the slayer in me said 'demon, kill' every time he was around. We both love

each other enough to live with it, but the curse makes that impossible."

"Well, it seems to me that John's apology included both sides of you. And aren't these

pretty fancy?" Joyce pointed at the throwing stars. Buffy nodded blushing.

"Hey, how's it going?" Dawn stuck her head in the door. "Oh, someone got a pretty!

Who gave you those Mom?" She came in and sat down on the bed next to Joyce, looking

at the weapons set. Sam and Dean came in behind her and Sam leaned over to take a

look.

"Nice set. I still can't believe he did it though."

"Your dad did, Dawnie." Buffy said, distracted by Dean and Sam's body language.

Something was wrong, but they were trying to hide it. "Are you going to be able to take

care of Mom by yourself?"

"Yes!" Dawn answered in her best duh! voice. "Besides, everyone has their cell phones.

If there is an emergency I'll call. Now, off you three go. It's demon killing time." Dawn

shooed them out the door.

"You know, every once in a while I'm struck by how totally bizarre my life is." Sam

stated, thinking about all the twists that were beginning to seem normal to him. "Dawn is

your six month old daughter, yet we're leaving her to take care of her ill grandmother by

herself. She's mature enough to handle the situation because she's been magically aged

up to fourteen and to top it off, she's just shooed us off to go hunt demonic rodents."

"Never mind that, Sam. It only gets worse the longer you stick around. I'm not sure if it's

the hellmouth or just me, though." Buffy said as she walked down the stairs. "What's

wrong?" She asked as they got to the porch and Joyce and Dawn could no longer hear

them.

"Nothing." Dean said flatly.

Sam sighed. His brother might as well have been jumping up and down waving a sign.

"It's just a personal problem, Buffy. We got some bad news and we'd rather not talk

about it, ok?"

"Puppy dog eyes don't work on me." Buffy said amused. "But if it's personal, I won't

push. Will you at least talk to your dad about it?"

"Yeah, it involves a possible job. It's out of the country though. We're not sure we'll be

able to take it." Dean said. He'd always been better at quick cover stories than Sam.

Besides, it was true enough. They were thinking about doing a job out of the country.

Buffy just didn't need to know that they were going after Hank Summers rather than a

demon.

"Ok. I'll take Xander with me today when he gets off work so you two can talk to John."

Buffy waved at them and turned left to resume her almost round the clock patrol. Sam

and Dean headed for the warehouse that was quickly becoming their meeting point for

this apocalypse.

John was waiting for them outside with more ammunition for their guns. "I'm glad

someone else is paying for all this ammo." he told them as he loaded them up. "You two

have something you want to tell me?" They should have been joking around with each

other, maybe even preparing another prank gift for him. Instead, they were both dead

serious and Dean in particular looked too controlled. Their game faces were on and that

was not a good sign.

"Got some more info on that Spanish job." Dean said quietly. The Spanish job. Hank

Summers. What ever the boys had found, it couldn't be good.

"Let's go." John grabbed his own ammunition and walked off. When they were far

enough away and using their gunshots to cover their conversation, Sam repeated what he

had told Dean. "Why did he have her committed?"

"He did it over Joyce's objections. Buffy had burned down her school's gym. My guess is

she lost her Watcher somehow, because she told her parents it was full of vampires.

Joyce wanted Buffy to get psychiatric care, but on an outpatient basis. Hank is the one

who insisted on her going into the institution. He said that she was a danger to others.

From the legal talk on the notes I found, it was mostly a ploy to prove that Joyce was an

unfit mother. The divorce went through and Joyce was awarded custody, but by that time

Buffy was lying to get herself out of the pych ward. Joyce immediately went and got

Buffy out, but I think Joyce had forgotten Buffy had ever mentioned vampires. She was

too focused on the fact that Hank had thrown her daughter in a mental hospital when she

didn't need to be there. After all, the doctors were telling her that Buffy was cured after

only three weeks. Also, the divorce papers only mentioned Buffy, I can't find any

mention of Dawn at all."

"We told Buffy we might have an out of country job to do, but we didn't want to talk

about it." Dean offered. "It was Sammy's idea to make it a personal one and Buffy said

she wouldn't push about it as long as we talked to you. So when we do go after this

creep, she's not going to be wondering where we are. You are staying here." Dean raised

the hand he wasn't shooting with. "What ever needs to be done, we'll do it. You're

needed here. You also have too hot a temper on this. You'd kill him and you know it."

John glared at Dean, but Dean refused to back down. He turned away and punched a

nearby building. "You're right. I'd kill him." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly,

trying to let go of his temper at the same time. "I know I can trust you boys to do the job

right. You did a good job with Glory." But he really wanted to be a part of this job.

Hank was almost starting to be as bad as the demon who killed Mary in his mind. John

stomped on that thought HARD. No, he wasn't that bad, but still Hank was human, and

what he had done to the two wonderful women in his life was beyond deplorable. "We

have to come up with something special to make sure he pays for this boys."

"Yes, sir."


	17. Chapter 17

Xander was glad to work for Eric. He knew he'd been hired by demon foreman as a way

to get on Buffy's good side, but as long as none of the demonic or half demonic

construction crews tried to eat, have sex with, or in any way tried to mutilate him, he was

happy to have the job. It paid well, was something he was actually good at and this time

at least, helped in a Scooby way as well because he was on the crew rebuilding the high

school. When he'd come onto the site for the first time no one had even looked at him

twice when he'd marked the location of the hellmouth. In fact, two of the more nervous

crew members had actually thanked him because they hadn't wanted to get to close to it.

Three days ago when he'd found the first Hectalik, he'd taken all morning and put a solid

concrete barrier ten feet around the marker. When Eric had asked about it, he'd told him

about the swarm. Eric had put ten other guys to helping him. Today was the day the first

one had gotten through to the barrier around the hellmouth. Thank god they couldn't

tunnel through rock or concrete. "You know Harris, I've heard lots of stories about

Hectalik but until now, I've never seen one."

"Yeah, it's amazing something so harmless and helpless is actually an end the world

threat. Although it's not as funny as the fear demon we had to take care of one

Halloween." Xander watched as the little demon wondered around the barrier sniffling

blindly.

"You took care of a fear demon? They can be really dangerous." Eric said in amazement.

"Yeah, but the guy wasn't even ten inches tall. Buffy stepped on him." Xander shrugged.

While getting to where the demon was being summoned wasn't something he'd like to

repeat, the take down had been a rather amusing experience. "Well, if none of the crew

wants this one I'll shoot it and call for someone to take it over to the warehouse."

"You mean you'd let us have it? I thought if they got this far, they were yours."

"Ours only in the sense that we'd be killing it because if we didn't they'll open the

hellmouth. None of us want the things, except for Spike, and he only wants their blood.

What we want is for everyone and anyone who wants them to take them. That way there

won't be so many for us to kill in a few days when the main swarm gets here. Heck, we

even got the regular humans in on it by telling them the Hectalik were cousins to

lemmings and they needed to be killed because they were rodents. The fewer that get past

the citizens and nightlife of Sunnydale, the less chance there is that the hellmouth will

open. Although Willow is half convinced the kids who are harvesting them are getting so

many that there won't be any left to get to the hellmouth."

"How much more time do we have?" Eric was nervous. He knew that Buffy was

probably the best slayer ever. She was certainly one of the rarest of all, one who

acknowledged that not all demons were evil. But no one had ever withstood a swarm of

Hectalik before.

"Two to three days by the last figures. I'd better call Giles and tell him one made it this

far." Xander pulled out his cell phone and picked up the Hectalik by the scruff of it's

neck. He handed it to his boss. "Hey, G-man! One made it through to the construction

site. No, we put up a concrete barrier so if any get past the workers they still can't get

within ten feet of the hellmouth. My boss is worried about how much time we've got left.

Two days." Xander waved two fingers at his boss. "Including today. OK, got it Giles.

Well, that's it Eric. Tomorrow night the main part of the swarm gets here."

"Then you take the rest of today and the next two days off, with pay." Eric ordered. "I'll

call you when we start getting a lot here." He waved his hand around the site.

"Nah, don't bother. I'm going to start moving an ammunition stash here. Better to be

overarmed than underarmed." Xander waved and took off for his car. It was so good to

work for someone who both knew and appreciated the fact that he was a slayerette.

Getting days off with pay to fight the current apocalypse was an unexpected and very

much appreciated bonus.

As Xander pulled his car up to the warehouse he noticed John, Dean and Sam taking off

together. They were all visibly armed, so they were off to kill more of the Hectalik. He

walked into the warehouse and was astounded by the sheer numbers of demon kids

running around. Maybe Willow was right about there not being very many Hectalik

making it to the hellmouth.

"Willow, my very bestest friend in the whole wide world, would you happen to know

where the special items Caleb sent Dean are?" Xander stopped at the counter where Anya

was supervising demon kids dropping off her share of the Hectalik and Willow was

handing out the bags of holding so even more could be collected.

"Yes, they're over on the 'human' side of the warehouse." Willow waved her hand behind

her.

"OK. One of them made it close to the hellmouth. I called Giles and he says tomorrow

night is the night. Anya can you handle things here while we take care of defending the

hellmouth?"

"Of course! I have a vested interest in making sure that everything goes well. Have you

and Spike been enjoying orgasms together? Because it really is a shame to be married

and not have lots of orgasms." Anya said earnestly. She did want to be supportive for

Xander. It wasn't his fault he was stuck in his marriage to Spike. It had been an accident.

Willow turned wide eyes on Xander. He held up his hand. "Don't ask, please? No,

Anya, there will be no sex with Spike, ever."

"Well that's not fair." Anya said stubbornly.

"Anya, you've made your stand on the subject quite clear. Spike and I are both asking

you, please, never mention this again." Xander went back to his car to move it to the

other side of the warehouse. He knew he'd have to talk with Willow, now that Anya had

opened her big mouth, but he hoped she would wait until after the Hectalik were taken

care of.

Spike was on the human side of the warehouse. He knew that the Hectalik swarms were

large, but seeing the humans coming in with wheelbarrows and dump trailers full of

carcasses amazed him. Especially seeing as the main part of the swarm wasn't here yet,

and the demons in town were bringing in even more on their side of the warehouse.

"Hey; Spike!" Xander called jogging up to him.

"Yeah, Nummy. What do you want?" Spike asked him, not even looking at Xander.

"For you to get your undead ass off the ammunition boxes and help me load them into my

car." he lowered his voice. "One made it all the way to the old school. Giles says

tomorrow night the main swarm should get here. We need to get this ammo moved."

Spike moved, but didn't want Xander to think he was jumping to do the boy's every

whim. "You know, you lot have really bollixed this all up. You've got everybody so

bloody cooperative it makes me sick. Humans and demons working together? Where's

the fighting, the screams, the blood and gore? There isn't even any property damage." he

complained.

"Well, you seem to be helping out." Xander nodded at the box of ammunition Spike was

putting in the trunk of his car.

"Yeah, well whose fault would that be, MATE?" Spike growled.

Xander blushed. "Um, about that. Thanks for not putting a bounty on my head or

something."

"Thanks for not staking me." Spike said quietly.

"Is there any way to deal with this so we don't have to," Xander waved his hand between

them and then picked up another box. "I already know one of us has to be dead for a

divorce."

"Give me permission to shag someone else."

"Spike." Xander leaned over the trunk towards the vampire. "You have my permission

to shag anyone you want except me."

"Don't want to shag you, pet. Bleed you dry, maybe."

Hank Summers was thrilled. The very last thing connecting him to his ex-wife; a piece of

land they had bought with the idea of building a vacation home on it, had finally sold.

Now all he had to do was go back to California and have Joyce sign the papers. Then he

could completely forget that portion of his life had ever happened. and get a nice hunk of

money to boot. Too bad he would have to give half to Joyce. He settled down in his first

class seat and watched the stewardess' shapely backside. Life was good. He didn't have

to worry about those stupid harassment complaints any more now that he was living in

Spain. The women were a lot more willing and prettier too than the ones in California.

But then Joyce had pretty much ruined Californian women for him.

Thinking about Joyce always led him to think of the one thing he'd give anything to forget

about completely. Buffy. It was all Joyce's fault his little princess turned into such a

troubled girl. (The word woman never even crossed his mind in connection with Buffy in

spite of the fact that the woman he was sleeping with was his daughter's age.) He had

done his best, but after that first six months with only Joyce as a parent not even buying

her shoes had helped. He fully blamed the judge. Couldn't he see that Joyce wasn't a fit

mother for Buffy? She just didn't understand that taking Buffy in hand was her job, not

his. She just shouldn't be dating, at all, ever.

He shoved all thought of Buffy and Joyce out of his mind and picked up his magazine in

preparation for the long flight. He'd deal with them when he had to and not before.


	18. Chapter 18

Another patrol around Sunnydale and another few thousand demonic rodents. This had to

be the most boring apocalypse ever. Not that he underestimated the seriousness and

gravity of the situation, Giles told himself. But the fact was that while the Hectalik

swarm numbered in the hundreds of thousands, the inhabitants of Sunnydale numbered in

the thousands as well, and most people and demons were taking an active part in the

defense of the town and the world. While this was a wonderful and unique turn of events

for a town that had made turning a blind eye to the hellmouth induced events that

occurred within it's borders into an art form, the fact remained that it made for a very

long, stressful, and boring apocalypse. He simply wished it was over.

Well, as he was duty bound to take this last patrol he might as well use the time wisely.

Namely by considering the most recent changes in his slayer's circle of family and friends.

The first and most radical change was Spike. He had come into this group as a captured

enemy. Not only had they treated him as such, but he had responded in kind. That

however, had changed. He paused trying to place exactly when the change had occurred.

It was after Willow's botched attempt at the 'my will be done' spell. Spike's behavior at

that point was still very much that of an offended vampire. Now that he thought about it,

the change was very close to that time, soon after the Gentlemen had come to Sunnydale

if he was recalling correctly. Yes, within a short time of his moving in with Xander.

Although he wasn't surprised at how the others had overlooked just how radical the

change in Spike was. He still said many of the same things, but much of the tone had

changed drastically. Some how, most likely through Xander, Spike had become friends

with his charges. Spike now considered the entire group his nest. Giles was aware that

Xander had a true gift when it came to making friends, he just wished he knew how

Xander had managed to make a friend out of someone he hated.

The introduction of Dawn, or rather the truth about Dawn being revealed had also

changed the dynamics of the group. Not so much about her being created to be the Key's

container, that was accepted as another example of Sunnydale strange, but the fact that

Dawn was Buffy's daughter. There was only one recorded instance of a slayer ever

becoming a mother to a child of her own blood. And that had only been possible due to

the child's unusual position during the pregnancy. No one in fact, had even known she

was pregnant until she had given birth. Giles suspected that the slayer had instinctively

shielded the child during any fighting, otherwise a single blow would have most likely

have killed the child. Her Watcher had been shocked and horrified to find her slayer in

labor after a particularly vigorous patrol. That slayer too, like Buffy, had been a lost

slayer and giving the timing of the child's birth, had become pregnant shortly after being

called but before her Watcher had found her. As with all events in a slayer's life, the

strange changes in her behavior after the child's birth had been meticulously recorded.

Buffy was now exhibiting many of those same behavioral changes. Most notably, her

frustration and inability to sleep while Glory was targeting Dawn. She was increasing the

number and frequency of her patrols. When she wasn't patrolling, Buffy was doing her

best to actually treat Dawn as her daughter. She was making sure Dawn had food,

clothing, shelter and protection when she wasn't present. She was making sure that Dawn

was getting a good education; checking over the Homeschooling packets John had gotten

for Dawn and verifying with Willow that the program Dawn was enrolled in was legal.

She encouraged Dawn to spend time with the new members of her family, but also made

sure that Dawn wanted too as well. Giles had believed that the slayer's strong maternal

instincts recorded in the Watcher's diary had been a property of the slayer in question, or

perhaps had been triggered by the pregnancy and birth. Buffy, however, was proving that

both theories were incorrect. It seemed that all that was needed to trigger the instincts

was the knowledge of the connection.

Willow and Xander had both asked him about the changes in Buffy's behavior, concerned

about their close friend. He had told them it was due to her inability to kill Glory. While

he had believed that to be the truth at the time, only her frustration had vanished with

Glory's defeat. While Buffy was now able to sleep, the number of hours she was

managing to sleep had decreased from a maximum of five hours a night to three or four.

The extra patrols had become almost constant but he was unsure if this was due to the

nature of the Hectalik problem or if it would continue after.

Joyce had been very firm with him when he had asked her opinion upon the subject of

Buffy and Dawn. Dawn was very likely to be the only child Buffy ever had. As long as

both Buffy and Dawn wanted a mother and daughter relationship, that was what they

would have. There was to be no interference. As he did not wish to jeopardize his

relationship with Joyce he had agreed. And as Dawn had proven very insistent over the

last few days that she had been back home in calling Buffy Mom, he supposed the matter

was settled. They would simply learn to deal with the new moods Buffy was

experiencing the same way they had learned to make sure she was eating when she wasn't

dating. He never had figured out the correlation between those two events, although he

was certain there was one.

Rupert Giles stopped dead in his tracts in amazement. He was halfway through the patrol

and had spotted the main portion of the swarm. The swarm was being decimated.

Demons of every shape and size imaginable were every where. Some were gorging,

swallowing the Hectalik whole. Others were grabbing them up left and right and stuffing

them into the magical bags Willow and Tara had created. There were humans there as

well, police and National Guardsmen, shooting the creatures until they ran out of

ammunition. As he watched, a vampire reached for a police officer, only to be slapped

away by another demon who gestured up at the Watcher. The officer in turn, staked the

vampire and went right back to shooting the Hectalik. The Scoobies efforts had paid off

better than anyone but Willow had predicted.

Giles had radioed the location and direction of the main portion of the swarm to those

waiting back at the hellmouth. Xander had taken the information and directed everyone

into place. The construction site had been lit up with huge lights everywhere to ensure

that there wasn't a single shadow for a Hectalik to hide in. John looked over the site and

was glad to see that Xander knew what he was doing. He not only knew the site, being

part of the construction crew, he was very good with group tactics and had placed each

person according to their strengths. He and Buffy had been placed side by side as each of

them had been given one of Caleb's special items, two assault cannons; machine guns belt

fed by backpacks filled with ammo. Dean and Xander were in position to back them up

and change the guns over from an empty load to a full one. Willow and Tara were behind

the concrete barrier seated on the ground. They were far enough away from the others

that they would be able to concentrate on the magical reinforcement they would be giving

the barrier and not be distracted by the killing the others would be doing. Sam and Spike

were covering their flanks. The main danger, he knew came not from the Hectalik's

claws, but from being crushed beneath their bodies as they all tried to cram themselves

into the hellmouth.

The swarm came, not in the flood everyone was expecting, but in a steady stream all night

long. John almost wished that they'd had the flood to deal with. Without the immediate

danger from the threat of being crushed by overwhelming numbers their adrenaline didn't

kick in and that made the task even more exhausting. One shot every few minutes for

each of them, and they had to be watching for that shot every second. It was one very

tiring and frustrating, but he was pleased at how well everyone was holding up under the

strain. Everyone but Spike that was. He really wanted to be able to gag the vampire.

Spike had to be the only vampire he had every heard of with attention deficit disorder.

He spent several hours grumbling under his breath about how boring this was, and

couldn't he just go and get into the thick of the fighting with the other demons? Finally

close to dawn, Xander ordered Spike to go home as he would be of no use to anyone as a

pile of ash. Spike gave Xander a two finger salute and stalked off, scooping up at least

one Hectalik before anyone could shoot it. The stream slowed to a trickle, then a steady

drip. Then finally, an hour after dawn, nothing. It was over.

Buffy took off her assault rig and John gratefully joined her. He ached and wished for

just a little of her slayer strength. The assault cannons were heavy. Dean looked over the

plies of slaughtered remains and said what everyone else was thinking. "I'm not cleaning

that up. Someone else can do it." Slowly the group gathered up their weapons. Sam and

Dean picked Tara and Willow off the ground and carried them over to John's truck.

Everything and nearly everyone was loaded up into the back. Only John and Buffy rode

in the cab. There was no talking either in the back or between Buffy and John as they

drove down to the warehouse to pick up Dawn and Joyce.

Anya was the one who met them at the door to the warehouse. "That was wonderful!"

She exclaimed. "The hellmouth didn't open, there are lots of satisfied customers who

paid me in Hectalik for their pocket dimensions, and no one got hurt. Right?" She

peered at the back to the truck where most of the group was sleeping or trying to. Just

then Dawn and Joyce came out of the warehouse. Their first reaction was to check Buffy

for injuries.

"Right, Anya." Buffy said. "No worries Mom, Dawn. Everyone's ok."

John ushered all three women into the cab of his truck. "Oh, and Mr. Winchester. I know

we really didn't get a chance to talk, but as I'm leaving for New York now, this is my last

chance to wish you luck on your war with the Jekfoontar clan." Anya said as she shook

his hand.

Dean and Sam's heads poked out over the sides of the truck. Did she just say what I think

she said? their twin looks proclaimed. "You know what clan killed my wife and Sam's

girlfriend?" John asked her, gripping her hand so she couldn't leave.

"Oh, yes. That particular kill style is very unique. They only use it on enemies of the

clan. And I know they've been trying to wipe out the descendants of a human warrior for

centuries. There is some kind of prophecy about a child of power rising from that

bloodline and destroying the magical bonds that hold the clan together. If you are ever in

New York, please come visit." And with that she got into her car and left Sunnydale.


End file.
